Right What Went Wrong
by lulutree
Summary: Alternate Universe where Ladybug and Chat Noir are transported to their future to put right what has gone wrong and prevent a cataclysmic event.
1. A Mysterious Man

Author's note:

So, I'm going to admit it right now, I don't know a single word of French! OK, maybe a few words, but I definitely don't read or speak it and I don't know what certain things are called in France. So, I will be using the version of English I am most familiar with, American English and will be using terms that we often use. I just don't need people pointing out that apartments and entertainment centers are called something else or something like that.

* * *

"Pound it!" two voices said in unison as black and red fists met.

Chat Noir smiled cheekily at Ladybug. The duo of fifteen-year-olds had just finished defeating and cleansing the most recent akumatized person. Ladybug could still make out the white, purified butterfly against the bright blue background of the Parisian sky, its wings gently flapping as it disappeared from sight. She'd always had the ability to sense them when they were very close by.

"Another successful fight and rescue, milady," he said. "You were decidedly purr-fect as always."

Ladybug shook her head and turned to look at the street. The latest akumatized person was sitting on the curb a few feet away, scratching his head in puzzlement. Those who had been akumatized rarely had clear memories of what had happened while they were under Hawkmoth's influence. This middle-aged gentleman had been an unfairly fired real estate agent. He had called himself 'The Salesman' and had turned everyone at his old real estate office into piles of money. Then he had begun turning surrounding buildings and innocent bystanders into piles of money as well, all the while spewing statements about how he was turning them into the only thing those who wronged him understood, money.

Ladybug handed the man the object the akuma had inhabited, his gold plated pen. It had apparently been a gift from his wife when he'd closed his first real estate deal twenty years earlier. A police patrol vehicle pulled up to the group.

"Just doing what I always do," she said to Chat Noir. To the man she said, "Help is here. Don't worry, the police understand how akumas work. You won't be in any trouble."

The man smiled nervously and nodded at her. Ladybug's miraculous earrings beeped their first warning. She absentmindedly place a hand over the left one and turned to Chat Noir.

"Looks like my time is up," she said. "You have less time than I do. Au revoir!"

Ladybug used her yoyo to spring up onto a nearby roof. To her dismay, Chat Noir followed her. The cat-themed hero closed his eyes and took a deep breath before stepping closer to Ladybug.

"Ladybug, I need to speak to you about something."

"Like what? And why now? We are about to transform back. It is imperative that we protect our identities. How many times do I have to say that?"

Ladybug placed a hand to her temple and crossed the other over her chest, a picture of exasperation and annoyance.

"I know that, but I've had this on my mind since…"

Suddenly, a dark shape jumped onto the roof in front of them. The figure straightened up from the kneeling position it had fallen into when it had landed. The figure was wearing a dark green canvas cloak and hood. The cavernous hood completely obscured the upper half of the face, but the two heroes could see that the figure had a gray goatee and tan skin and was wearing a green mask. He was also wearing some sort of green outfit, the cloak prevented the pair from getting a good view of what the man was wearing underneath. Despite the cloak obscuring their view and the obvious advanced years of the stranger, Ladybug and Chat Noir could see that he was well muscled and physically fit. The mask and outfit was a lighter shade of green than the cloak.

The stranger took a step forward. Before either teenager could say a word to him, the stranger pulled what appeared to be a green shield from beneath his cloak and pointed it directly at them. Light burst from it and shot towards them. The duo turned to jump away from the apparent attack, but they couldn't move fast enough. The world around Ladybug and Chat Noir faded away rapidly, leaving only bright, white light and silence around them. Even the ground beneath their feet faded away and they felt the sensation of rapidly falling through the air, although it didn't look like they were moving in any direction, just floating in place. A booming voice rang in their ears.

"Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started."

As quickly as it had started, it suddenly stopped. The pair were standing in the exact spots they had been before the appearance of the mysterious stranger, who was nowhere in sight. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other in puzzlement for a brief moment before wordlessly springing to action. They raced around the three-story building's roof, looking at the streets below and the nearby roofs of other buildings. There was no sign of the man, in fact there was no sign of anyone they knew had been on the streets below previously. Both heroes looked down at the street where they had finally defeated The Salesman. As they left the scene a police cruiser and an ambulance had pulled up and joined the one that had already arrived.

Now, the street was clear, only regular cars drove by on the street and a few citizens walked along the sidewalks. There were two children blowing bubbles out a window across the street from Ladybug and Chat Noir. There was no sign of the akuma victim, police, medics or the small crowd that had gathered on the sidewalks surrounding them.

"There's no way that the police cleared out of here so fast," Ladybug commented, frowning.

"I've never seen a style of car like that before," Chat Noir said pointing to a red vehicle that was slowly making its way down the street.

Ladybug couldn't help but agree with her partner. The vehicle was of a familiar make, but she didn't recognize the model, it was far more angular than the cars she was used to seeing. Glancing around the street she noted that most of the cars present were also odd looking to her. She was about to comment on it when her Miraculous beeped warningly at her. Chat's did the same, the second paw pad disappearing from his ring.

"We'd best get home," Ladybug said. "It's probably just our imagination that the cars are different and who knows how long we were trapped by that man."

"We have to find that guy. He has to be up to something."

"You're right, but we need to protect our identities. I'll call you as soon as my Miraculous is recharged."

"Will do," Chat said, cheekily saluting her.

Ladybug shook her head as she used her yoyo to swing away onto the next building, heading towards home.

* * *

Ladybug made good time reaching her family's bakery and house above, landing squarely on her roof. As she travelled home she puzzled over the strange man's seemingly harmless attack and vague words.

Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started, she thought. What did he mean? What is wrong? Well, Hawkmoth is wrong, could that be what he meant? The cycle of akuma attacks?

She continued to mull over his words as she pulled open the hatch and silently dropped down into her spacious bedroom. As soon as she had pulled the hatch closed behind her, she detransformed.

"Who was that man?" Tikki asked as Marinette handed her a sugar cookie from a baggy in her pocket. "Even I felt his presence and the effects of the beam he hit you with. His aura was familiar almost."

"Do you know who he could be?"

"No, not really, just felt familiar in a way."

Marinette climbed down the ladder, the tiny kwami sitting on her shoulder, munching away at her cookie. Up until that point, despite the dimness of the room, she hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. She knew her room like the back of her hand. Crossing the room, she pulled the chain on a floor lamp next to her chaise lounge to turn it on and the room filled with light. Next she walked over to her sewing desk. It was then she noticed something wrong. Her sewing machine was missing. Looking around where the machine was supposed to be, she noticed her latest sewing projects were gone, along with her supplies cabinet. The many posters of Adrien Agreste, various photos of her and her friends and design patterns were missing from the surrounding walls. In the place of her largest poster of Adrien used to be was a lovely framed watercolor of a flower garden.

Looking around the room, she realized all her belongings were gone. It was still an attractive bedroom, but all of her personal touches, other than the chaise lounge and floor lamp were gone.

"What is going on?" she cried. "All my things!"

Did my parents find out that I was gone and take my decorations and sewing machine as punishment for sneaking out? she thought, alarmed.

The teen hurried to the hatch leading towards the kitchen and living room. Opening the door, she saw that the stairs were no longer painted white, now they were a deep mahogany brown. Pausing to examine them, she realized that the television was on and her parents were sitting on their large L-shaped couch. The couch, entertainment center, bookcase and dining set were all the same as she knew them, but the curtains, rugs and refrigerator beneath the staircase were different.

Her parents were totally engrossed in the program they were watching. Marinette wasn't paying attention to what was on the television, she was totally stunned by how her parents looked. Her father, Tom, was significantly thinner than she remembered and his hair and mustache were steel gray. He looked worn and tired and was wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses. Her mother, Sabine, had a gray streak running down one side of her now shoulder length black hair. Sabine's back was to Marinette, so the girl couldn't see the woman's face.

"Tom, did you want to keep watching this program?" Sabine spoke up. "I'm not able to follow it well."

"Me neither, I don't understand the hype around it," Tom said. "Let's see what's on the news."

Sabine used the remote control to switch to a different channel before speaking again.

"What did you think of Marinette's and Alya's new apartment?"

"I liked it a lot, much better than the last one," he said. "That was not a good part of the city."

"It was cheap though."

"Yes, there was that, I suppose," Tom said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't help out more with the moving. I'm just so tired today."

Sabine placed a hand on his forearm.

"It's fine, Tom. Just do what you can. The doctor did say to take it easy."

"What?" Marinette cried in alarm. Her parents would have heard and discovered her then if at that precise moment an explosion hadn't rocked the entire block.

* * *

Chat Noir dropped from a fire escape onto the old pavement of an alley near his mansion. He immediately detransformed. He said nothing as he handed Plagg a piece of camembert cheese. He glowered at the cat-like kwami after he nearly took off Adrian's finger wolfing down his favorite snack. The blonde boy sighed and sat on a plastic crate someone had left against an alley wall. Plagg floated after him, still chewing the remnants of his snack.

"OK, I'll bite, what's wrong?" Plagg asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"I lost my chance to tell her yet again!"

Plagg looked at his Miraculous holder quizzically for a few seconds.

"Oh right, you are in love with Ladybug…What is love again?"

"I'm not going to try and explain human emotions to you again, Plagg."

"What was with that strange man?" Plagg asked, changing the subject.

"You sensed him?"

"Yah, I did. I tend to just zone out and let you do your thing when you have activated my powers, but that guy was weird."

"Do you know who he was?"

"No, but he was somehow familiar to me," Plagg said, thoughtfully. "Did he say anything to you?"

"He said, 'Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started.'" Adrien quoted.

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea," Adrien shrugged. "Let's get home, not that anyone will greet us when we get there."

"Yes, I have a hankering for more camembert."

Adrien chuckled at the kwami's one track mind. He exited the alley and walked the one block back to his home. He kept walking in silence for a while before he realized he had gone too far. He turned to look back, puzzled. He'd lived in the mansion on this street for years, he knew it well. He knew the alley was only a block from the front gate of his home. He began walking back the way he'd come, feeling silly. He slowed to a stop as he approached a building he didn't recognize. Before him, where his mansion should have been, was what appeared to be a brand new five-story apartment building.

The teenager stood staring, open mouthed, at the building for a few moments before finally pulling out his phone and tried to open his maps app. He figured he'd just made a mistake and was lost. After receiving error notifications from the app for the third time, he checked his wifi settings. It appeared to him that his wifi wasn't working. Once he noticed this, it didn't take him long to realize that his phone had no signal whatsoever. Instead of showing him bars indicating the strength of his signal, he only had the dreaded circle with a slash through it. He had been standing in front of the main entrance for several minutes before someone approached him. It was a youngish, brunette man in a business suit.

"Excuse me," Adrien said, stopping the man. "Do you live around here?"

"Yes, just up the street. Why?" the man spoke with an accent Adrien couldn't place the origin of, British maybe.

"Do you know what happened to the mansion that was here?"

"Uh, well, I've only lived in France for the past eighteen months. I'm from Australia originally. Moved here for a job, speak French will enough. I don't know much, but this place just started being lived in about four months ago. I heard that the building before was owned by a famous actor and model. He had the building torn down and sold the lot to the developer that built the apartment building. Does that help?"

"What's the name of the famous actor and model? Do you remember?"

The man thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Sorry, kid, I don't," he said.

"Have you seen an akuma? How about Hawkmoth?"

The man looked at Adrien like he was crazy at first, but then he shook his head slightly and smiled.

"Oh, yes I remember hearing about the akumas. They haven't been an issue in years, I don't recall when the Miraculous League finally captured that Hawkmoth villain, but it was well before I moved to Paris. They have a website, you could look it up. Does that help you? I need to get going."

Adrien was about to respond when there was an explosion in a nearby part of the city. The boy hurried towards it, the man yelling for him to stop behind him.


	2. Out of Place

Marinette had transformed into Ladybug even before exiting the hatch from her bedroom to the roof. She easily found the source of the explosion by heading towards the beacon of smoke that was rising over the surrounding rooftops. The smoke was pouring from the roof and the windows on the upper two stories of a five-story office building. Ladybug crouched on a flat roof across the street from the building and formulated a quick plan. There were people flooding out of the external doors she could see and first floor windows. She didn't see any fire escapes, but she figured they could be on the other side of the building.

"Milady," came a familiar voice.

Chat Noir crouched down next to her. By this time, there were people at several of the fourth and fifth story windows, crying for help.

"What's the plan?" Chat asked.

"The fire department can handle putting out the fire, but we need to help those people now."

"Got it," he said, nodding. "We can…who's that?"

Chat's attention had been caught by a blur of yellow shooting over their heads. The blur landed on the sidewalk next to the building. It turned out to be a young, blonde woman in a costume that resembled a bee.

"Is that an akuma?" Chat Noir asked.

"I don't know, it doesn't feel like an akuma to me, but I can't be sure."

The bee woman signaled with her hand to someone that the teens couldn't see. She was joined by two young men, one dressed in a blue tuxedo with a peacock patterned cape, and the other dressed in a green outfit with what appeared to be a turtle shell on his back. The three conferred for a brief second before two additional people swung and jumped into view.

They were Ladybug and Rena Rouge, but then again, they weren't. Ladybug had tan skin, hazel eyes and curly, brownish-red hair. Rena Rouge had very pale skin, blue eyes and black hair, tied back in a messy bun.

"Who are they?" Ladybug cried as the two newcomers joined the other three animal-themed heroes.

The group split up. Four of the five concentrated on rescuing those trapped on the fourth and fifth floors, while the man dressed as a turtle pulled the shell from his back and pointed it at a section of the building, holding it like a shield in a way that reminded Ladybug of the mysterious man in the cloak.

"Deceleration Cannon!" he shouted.

A beam of light shot from the shield and hit the section of the building he'd pointed it at. He was able to shoot two more beams out before his shield appeared to run out of power. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked on in amazement as the fire where the green-clad man had shot his beams of light slowed down and appeared to freeze in place. The man then began helping the other heroes get people out of the building. It had only been about four minutes since the arrival of the first hero, the bee woman. Rena Rouge had been sending copies of herself throughout the building. She announced that she couldn't find anyone still inside. By then, the fire department had shown up in force and was working on extinguishing the flames. The sections that the turtle man had been able to slow down were very easy to put out.

The two teen heroes watched as the five adult heroes were gratefully thanked by many of the people that had been inside the building, along with firefighters, emergency medical technicians and bystanders. They hurried away to the cheers of the Parisian citizens on the streets below. Ladybug turned to Chat Noir.

"Let's follow them," she said, pulling out her yoyo.

"Lead on, milady."

* * *

They followed the five heroes to a very nice apartment in an older part of town, the trip only took them about five minutes. Young Ladybug and Chat Noir watched as the group of older heroes entered the apartment through a hatch in the roof. The pair repelled across the street and peeked through the windows until they found the five mysterious costumed people. Ladybug moved to the next window which was slightly open and gestured for Chat to join her. They settled in on either side of the window to listen and watch.

"I spoke to some of the people rescued from the fire," the woman dressed as Ladybug said. "That office building mostly houses medical research companies. The top two floors belong to one company. They research medical procedures and cures, blah blah blah. Anyway, one research tech saw a man leave a package at the front counter on the fourth floor about ten minutes before the explosion. I spoke to the fire marshal, she said that it looked like the explosion occurred near the reception area on the fourth floor."

"So it was sabotage?" the woman dressed as a bee asked, tucking a loose strand of her blonde hair behind an ear. "I remember reading about that building a while back. They are very competitive with the other medical companies."

On the outside of the building, Ladybug turned to Chat Noir.

"Don't those two women sound sort of familiar?" she whispered. "Especially the one dressed as me."

"I'm trying to figure out why Ladybug is a different person," Chat whispered back. "So is Rena Rouge. Nothing is making sense. My home is gone too, there is an apartment building there instead."

Ladybug looked alarmed.

"My bedroom was different and my parents looked older. They were talking like I had moved away…I think my dad is sick."

Suddenly, there was a flash of light from within the room. The two teens turned their attention back to the people inside. They gasped at what they saw before them. The man dressed like a turtle had detransformed, a green kwami who Ladybug immediately recognized as Wayzz was sitting on his shoulder eating something she couldn't make out. They were both startled to recognize the man who had been in the costume. He was clearly several years older, taller and more muscular, but the green clad hero was none other than Nino Lahiffe! Chat Noir lost his footing in his surprise, nearly falling and making a loud clattering noise, gaining the attention of the five people within the room.

Quick as lightning, the older Ladybug shot her yoyo at the window, opening it fully and caught Chat around his wrist. He'd been forced to grab onto the windowsill to stop himself from falling to the street below. The older Ladybug pulled him into the room and pulled back her yoyo. The young Ladybug stayed perfectly still on the outside of the building. Chat Noir now stood, his shoulders hunched forward, claws out, ready to fight and flee as the five older people stared at him in surprise.

"Chat, what are you doing sneaking around the window?" the other Ladybug asked. "I didn't realize you knew where I lived anymore."

"You have a lot of gall to come here," Rena Rouge cried, anger darkening her pale face. "After you go for three years without a word…I worried so much about you."

"Wait, what?" Chat stammered, putting his palms up towards the larger group. "I think you are mistaken."

"Mistaken?" Rena Rouge cried, detransforming. "Why you…"

The detransformed Rena Rouge was interrupted by a cry at the window and Chat Noir stumbling into a sitting position in shock. An older version of Marinette Dupain Cheng stood before Chat Noir and the younger Ladybug who was now perched on the windowsill. The older Marinette, along with the other older heroes all gasped. The older Ladybug stepped forward and signaled for the younger version to step fully into the room. She directed the two teens to sit on the couch nearby.

"Who are you?" adult Ladybug asked. "What are you doing outside my window?"

Neither teen spoke immediately, both were in a state of shock. Younger Ladybug without thinking.

"So if I am Rena Rouge, does that mean Alya is Ladybug?"

"What!" Chat exclaimed, turning quickly to look at his partner. "You-you mean you are Marinette?"

She winced when she realized what she had done. She detransformed, Tikki perched shyly on her shoulder. Everyone in the room gasped. Suddenly, something became clear to the teenaged Marinette.

"Three years…all the differences in my and Chat's homes…the different cars," she said, a tone of awe in her voice. "An older version of me and Nino. I think I know what that hooded man did now. He transported us to the future."

"How is that possible?" the bee asked.

"How do we know they are telling the truth?" the peacock asked, his voice heavily accented.

Wayzz and the fox kwami Trixx piped up and approached the teens and other kwami.

"They are for real," Wayzz said, Trixx nodding his agreement. "I can sense it. And that is indeed Tikki, but now there are two Tikkis. Hmm..."

The turtle kwami fell silent and began scratching his chin in thought.

The older Ladybug detransformed, revealing herself to indeed be Alya Cesaire. Her Tikki looked curiously at her past self.

"But, how is my teenage self here now?" Marinette asked. "I have no memory whatsoever of travelling to the future."

"Are you sure revealing your true identities was wise," the peacock spoke up. "They could still be lying."

"No, that Marinette is the real thing," Alya's Tikki said, smiling. "I'd know her anywhere."

"But look at the boy's reaction," the peacock continued. "He clearly didn't know who Ladybug was."

They all looked at Chat Noir. His eyes were wide and he was staring at the teenage Marinette, his mouth slightly agape.

"Well, as we all know, even you Peacock, they find out who each other is eventually," Alya chuckled, looking at the older Marinette who rolled her eyes. "But, I think we need to focus on the bigger issue here, how did they get here in the first place?"

Alya looked at the teenage Marinette expectantly. Marinette looked over at her partner. He was still staring at her wide-eyed. He'd be no help.

"Well, we were about to head home after defeating an akuma," she said, uncertainly. "Then a man in a hood and cloak jumped in front of us. He had some sort of shield and he shot a beam of light at us. It was like the beams of light you shot out of your turtle shell shield Nino when you were…what is your hero name?"

"Carapace," he said.

"We were consumed in light, couldn't see anything around us, but it felt like we were falling. Then the light went away and we were standing exactly where we were before the man appeared."

"Did he say anything to you?" older Marinette asked.

"Yes, he said, 'Right what went wrong. Stop the cycle that Hawkmoth started.'"

The older Miraculous holders all looked at each other.

"Hawkmoth?" the bee asked. "He's been locked up for three years now. How old are you two exactly?"

"I am fifteen," Marinette said. "I've never asked him, but I do know that Chat Noir is about the same age as me."

"I, Alya, Nino and Queen Bee are all twenty-one," the other Marinette said. "So you've been transported around six years into the future…to right some type of wrong and fix something Hawkmoth did. I'm assuming he did it between six and three years ago because he's in prison now. Akumas are no longer an issue."

"Well, I'm glad I am finally able to stop him…I stopped him right?" teen Marinette asked.

"Yes, with the help of the team here," Marinette said, motioning to Nino, Alya and Queen Bee. "And Chat Noir. Peacock wasn't part of the team yet. We hadn't found the peacock Miraculous yet."

Suddenly, Queen Bee's Miraculous beeped. She placed a hand over the pin in her hair.

"I've got to go," she said. "I think it would be too much for your younger self to find out who I am tonight, Marinette. I'll call you in the morning."

The Peacock also took his leave. The remaining three heroes turned to Marinette and Chat Noir. The older Marinette approached the cat themed hero.

"This is overwhelming, isn't it?" she asked. "You had this same reaction when you found out who I was in my past, your future."

Chat Noir finally stopped staring at his version of Marinette and turned to the future version.

"It makes so much sense though," he said. "I can't believe I hadn't figured it out."

"You were older than you are now when you figured it out in my timeline," Marinette said. "I'm just trying to figure out why I don't remember travelling to the future. It makes no sense."

"I was thinking," Nino said. "My miraculous power is time manipulation and they said they were hit with a beam of light from a shield, that's how my shield works. Could I have something to do with what happened to them?"

The older Marinette frowned.

"Are you able to travel through time?"

Nino shook his head and looked at Wayzz, who shrugged.

"My last holder was able to lengthen his life with my power," the kwami said. "He was never able to travel through time. But, there are things that even I don't know."

Wayzz looked to the two Tikkis.

"You are the oldest of us," he said. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," one of the Tikkis said. "I don't remember the past very well."

Alya sighed.

"It's getting late," she said. "And I'm tired after that fire. Marinette and Chat, you two can stay here while we figure out what to do."

The teenagers nodded, both were too shocked and exhausted to put up an argument, plus they knew they had nowhere else to go. Nino bid them farewell and left the apartment through the front door. The older Marinette turned to face Chat Noir.

"You know who I am, Alya and I know who you are. If you feel comfortable, you can detransform. You have nothing to fear."

Chat looked to his Marinette and took a deep breath.

I've thought of doing this for so long, why do I feel nervous now? He thought. Is it because I wasn't expecting Ladybug to be Marinette?

He turned to the teenage girl.

"OK, I'll show you who I am," he said. "Please, just keep being the confident girl you are when I'm not around without my Chat Noir costume."

"Oh, OK…" Marinette said, giving him a strange look.

Chat Noir detransformed. Upon seeing him without the costume on, the younger Marinette shot up from the couch and tripped backwards onto the floor, where she sat in open mouthed shock and stared at him. Adrien stood up and held out a hand to her.

"Let me help you up, milady."

Marinette gaped at his hand for a moment before shyly grabbing hold of it. Adrien helped her stand and find a seat on an armchair behind her. She cradled her head in her hands and muttered to herself.

"Are you alright Marinette?" Adrien asked. "I was shocked about you being Ladybug too."

She looked up at the boy, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"Hey, don't be upset," he said, kneeling down in front of her. "I hope you aren't too disappointed that I turned out to be Chat Noir."

"No, no, I'm not disappointed," she cried, straightening up in the chair. "I was upset about how I've been treating you when you are Chat all this time due to how…"

She stopped speaking abruptly and shook her head.

"Never mind. I'm not disappointed, so don't worry about it."

Alya handed Plagg a piece of cheese which he eagerly gobbled up.

"It would probably be best if you two didn't think too much about it," she said. "Just move on with life. Now, I'm starving, let's get some dinner."


	3. Over Dinner

Alya and the twenty-one year old Marinette prepared dinner while the two teenagers sat in the living room. Neither teen said a word to the other. Both were trying to come to grips with discovering who the other was. The two Tikkis were cuddling on a cushion. Plagg was watching as Alya sliced up a block of cheese, begging much like a pet cat. To help break the tension, Alya had Adrien set the table. Once the two women were finished preparing it, they set the meal out on the table.

"Just sandwiches tonight," Marinette said. "Need to use up the baguettes I took home from the bakery the other day."

The baguettes had been cut up into two inch sections creating small ham and cheese and roast beef and cheese sandwiches. Each sandwich had mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and pickle slices. There were enough sandwiches for each person to have more than three sandwiches. To drink was wine for Alya and water for Marinette. The two teens opted for water as well. The two adults dug into the sandwiches, but the teens only took a couple bites before setting their food back down.

"Are you not hungry," Alya asked. "Do you not like them?"

The younger Marinette looked up at her friend, alarmed.

"Oh, no they are really good," she said. "I'm just not very hungry...Are the baguettes from our bakery?"

The older Marinette nodded, swallowing a bite of sandwich.

"I work at the bakery a few days a week, in between classes. Alya does too, when she isn't working as a freelance reporter or in a class. I only have one class left to complete in my design school. Already have a job lined up."

"As a fashion designer?" Marinette asked.

Her older self nodded.

"I was wondering," teen Marinette said, turning her water glass in her hand. "What's wrong with dad?"

"You saw dad?"

"Yah, I didn't know I'd been transported to the future," the teen explained. "I went home after we saw the strange man. They didn't see me, but I saw mom and dad. He looked ill and mom mentioned his doctor saying he should take it easy. Is he sick?"

"Yes, he is," the other Marinette said, sadly. "He's doing better, but it's been a fight. The doctors are hopeful. I don't know how much I should tell you. There's nothing you can do to stop what's going to happen to him. He did everything he was supposed to do. It was caught early."

The younger Marinette felt sadness wash over her. A hand settled gently on her shoulder and squeezed it. Looking over, she found that it was Adrien. He gave her a kind smile.

"I just can't wrap my head around this," Alya said between mouthfuls of her sandwich. "How did you two time travel?"

"You heard what Nino said about his powers," older Marinette said. "What if he figured out how to time travel and brought them here."

"Why didn't he say that he did?" Alya asked.

"I don't think he did," younger Marinette spoke up. "The man had a gray goatee, he was far older than Nino is right now."

They fell silent for a moment, mulling over their situation.

"I have a question," Adrien spoke up.

The two women looked at one another. They were fairly sure what he was going to ask about. They had been dreading this question, but knew that it was going to be asked ever since they realized the duo was from the past.

"Where is your Chat Noir?" he asked.

Even though they were expecting it, it still made them wince and their minds race for an answer.

"My mansion is gone, a man I met there said it was torn down by the son of the original owner and the lot sold to a developer."

"That's not the only thing that is bothering me," teen Marinette interrupted. "I gave you, Alya, the fox miraculous when we were fifteen for a brief time. You didn't want to keep it back then. Now, you are Ladybug and I am Rena Rouge. What's up with that?"

The older Marinette took a deep breath.

"Both of your questions have the same answer," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I was no longer qualified to be Ladybug. My poor decisions lead to the destruction of Chat Noir's life. So, he is no longer Chat Noir and I am no longer Ladybug."

The teen Marinette and Adrien looked at one another and then back at the older females. The older Marinette had fallen into a sobbing fit and Alya was rubbing her back and talking to her softy, trying to calm her. Finally, the blue-eyed woman batted Alya's hand away and rushed out of the room, slamming a door behind her. Alya sighed heavily.

"What was that about?" Marinette asked. "What happened to me and Chat Noir?"

"It's been three years since we spoke to Chat Noir…Adrien. We were eighteen, me, Marinette, Nino, Adrien and Queen Bee. I was Rena Rouge and Marinette was Ladybug. We found Hawkmoth in his lair. Adrien was akumatized. We were able to bring him out of it and defeat Hawkmoth, but Adrien was traumatized. Marinette was traumatized too. She blamed herself for what happened to him. She feels her decisions as leader that day are what lead to Adrien being akumatized. Adrien quit the team and hasn't spoken to us since. Marinette stepped down as leader. She's been in therapy for three years, trying to get over it."

The two teenagers remained silent for a few moments after Alya finished speaking, trying to process what she told them. It was Adrien who broke the silence.

"And Hawkmoth, what happened to him?"

"He was arrested and tried as a terrorist. The courts decided his crimes qualified as terrorism because he was using violence and threats of violence against the citizens of France to obtain his goal of absolute power. He was convicted of a few dozen separate counts of terrorism and a few counts of kidnapping and destruction of property."

"The threats from him were mostly against Chat and I," Marinette said.

"It sounds convoluted, I know," Alya said, shrugging. "But, they were at a loss with what to charge him with. To the legal system, terrorism fit the best I suppose. I don't think it fits well. They put him away for life, though. He'll never harm anyone ever again."

"Well, that's good," Marinette said.

"His kwami, Nooroo, is still locked away in some evidence vault," Alya's Tikki said, sadly. "He had to serve that evil villain for years and now, he's probably lost forever."

Trixx nodded and sighed sadly.

"I'm sure what happened to me wasn't Marinette's fault," Adrien said and turned to Marinette. "Ladybug is strong and smart. Marinette is the same way."

"You are kind to say that," the older Marinette said, returning to the room and sitting at the table. "But, I was the one appointed leader by the rest of the team. I am ultimately responsible for what happened that night."

"Marinette, whatever happened to me, it couldn't have been your fault," Adrien said. "I would never blame you. Does my future self blame you for what happened?"

"He didn't three years ago, but I don't know about how he feels now," Marinette said. "But…his silence towards me speaks volumes."

Alya put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"You know he doesn't blame you, he blames himself for what happened. All those years of suffering, all the people...Never mind, forget that I said that."

"What are you talking about?" Adrien asked.

"Nothing, I confused myself with the current topic and something else that has been on my mind," Alya said.

The young woman refused to elaborate on what she had said and sipped at her wine. The room fell silent for a few moments. The younger Marinette had a look of deep concentration on her face as she stared at her water glass. Finally, she looked up and spoke what was on her mind.

"So, who is Hawkmoth?"

The older Marinette made a choking noise and began coughing in surprise. A panicked look came over Alya's face as she glanced for a split second at Adrien before looking over at the coughing woman and back to the two teenagers. It appeared, Adrien was the only one to notice the panicked look Alya had given him because his partner continued to speak.

"It would help us take him down once we get back to our own time."

"I think…I think it's best if his identity remains a mystery," Alya said, again giving Adrien a furtive look. "You probably know too much already. Let's just focus on finding a way to send you two back."

The younger Marinette tried for a few more minutes to convince the two women to tell her who Hawkmoth really was, but they wouldn't budge.

"It's best if we all just drop the subject," Alya said. "It's late and I'm tired. I think it is time for all of us to get to bed. Tomorrow we will somehow start to figure out a way to send you two home."

The older Marinette stood from the table.

"One of you can sleep on the couch, the other will have to take the floor," she said. "I'll get you two some bedding."

It took the four people about fifteen minutes to get the two teen's set up. Adrien refused to let Marinette sleep on the floor, so he took the sleeping bag the other Marinette had provided and laid it out on the rug. The older Marinette helped the younger one set up the sheets, blankets and pillow on the couch. Alya provided the pair with two of her extra toothbrushes and some toothpaste. The older Marinette gave her younger self a set of pajamas and Adrien a tee shirt and gym shorts belonging to her father that had been left behind by him a few days before. Before the two women retired to their rooms, Alya unhooked the laptop computer sitting on a small desk by her bedroom door.

"Sorry," she said. "I don't trust the two of you to not look up who Hawkmoth is. "It's best you don't know."

The two women locked themselves in their rooms leaving the teenagers alone in the living area.

"I'm going to change," Marinette said, heading towards the bathroom.

After she had changed and brushed her teeth, Marinette returned to the living area. To her surprise, Adrien was hanging part way out of a window. She hurried over to him, noticing when she got close that Plagg was hovering by the boy's shoulder outside the window.

"Adrien, what are you doing?" she cried, tugging at the boy's shirt.

Adrien stepped down from the window.

"Plagg can sense me, I mean, sense my future self. He's trying to pin point my location."

"What are you planning?"

"I thought about it," Adrien said. "I think the hooded man was talking about us. Look at you now and remember what Alya and future you said about me? Put right what went wrong? Stop what the Hawkmoth started? Can't you see it? We have to fix ourselves."

"I found him…you." Plagg announced, flying into the room.

Adrien looked to Marinette.

"Stay with Alya and the future you," he said. "Try to help them find a way to send us back. Also, maybe you could convince your future self to be Ladybug again. I'm going to meet up with myself."

"Adrien, stop! What if he's not happy to see you?"

"I'll just have to risk it…Plagg, claws out!"

Adrien transformed into Chat Noir and hopped onto the windowsill. Before leaping out into the night, he turned to the girl and smiled at her.

"Have you noticed that you haven't acted like you usually do around me as Adrien? I like seeing the real you. Please, keep it up!"

With that he sprung out into the cool Parisian night.


	4. Talking to Yourself

"He's up there, on the top floor," Plagg said, pointing.

Adrien had been switching back and forth from being himself and Chat Noir. It was easier moving around the city as Chat Noir, but he needed Plagg to direct him to where his future self was. If only his smart phone worked, he could just look his future self's address up on the internet and use his maps app to navigate. His currently method was making the trip take extra long. The tall, modern building was situated on the outskirts of Paris' modern business district. The teen felt slightly out of place as he had spent most of his life living in the historic section of the city in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

The boy changed into Chat Noir and began scaling the building, using the balconies as jumping points. From what he glimpsed through the windows, this building was home to the affluent, the furniture and decorations was all very high end. Finally, he landed on the wide patio of the penthouse apartment. The lights were on inside and cast slanted rectangles of light onto the cement and patio furniture. Chat Noir kept up to a window next to a sliding glass door.

What Chat saw within shook him to the core. Like the other housing units he'd glimpsed, the furnishings were upscale and appeared fairly new. But, covering every flat surface were old takeout boxes, newspapers, garbage and innumerable full, partially full and empty bottles. Most were liquor, but a few beer and wine bottles could be seen amongst the mess. Adrien couldn't believe what he was seeing.

How could he let himself live like that? He wondered. Plagg must be mistaken, this isn't my house.

It was at that moment his eyes located movement within the room. On a large couch lay a young, blonde man, stubble growing on his face. He was lying on his stomach, his face was turned in Chat's direction, he was drooling. His left arm was hanging over the side of the couch, a bottle of what looked to be vodka tightly gripped in his hand. The man was a few years older than he, but Chat Noir knew that he was indeed, Adrien Agreste.

Chat hesitated for a moment. Would his future self be in any condition to talk to him? He decided to try anyway. He didn't travel all that way for nothing. He gently tugged on the handle to the sliding door. To his relief, it was not locked. He stepped into the room, it smelled heavily of old booze and old takeout, and quietly closed the door behind him. He approached his passed out older self and stood over him. He was glad that he was transformed into Chat Noir at that moment. Plagg would certainly have some sarcastic comments about the state his future self was in.

The fifteen-year-old hero placed a hand on the man's shoulder and shook him, gently. Adrien did nothing more than snort and turn his head to face the other way. Chat shook him again, harder this time. Adrien merely groaned and snorted, tightening his grip on the vodka bottle. Chat shook his future self vigorously for several more seconds with no luck. In frustration, he smacked the older Adrien up side his head and shouted.

"Hey, wake up already!"

Adrien shot up into a sitting position, his eyes half open and watery. Due to his current state of inebriation and quick movement, Adrien overbalanced and fell off the couch, landing on his rear end. He did not lose his grip on his bottle of booze and uncapped it as soon as he landed and took a swig. The man stood up from the floor on unsteady legs and collapsed onto the couch in a sitting position. He stared uninterestedly at Chat Noir as he took another swig from the nearly empty bottle. Chat Noir couldn't think of anything to say at that moment. He felt like he was in a mirror universe, staring at the opposite of himself.

"Huh, you've come to mock me again, ay?" the older Adrien slurred, still staring at Chat.

The teen was about to speak when his older self continued, pointing aggressively at him, a dark look on his stubbly face.

"You ruined my life," he slurred. "You are nothing but a lie!"

Chat Noir had to fling himself to the side as Adrien threw the vodka bottle at him. The glass vessel didn't break as it hit the wall, but it did leave a small dent in the sheet rock.

"I was only living at lie!" Adrien continued, putting his head in his hands. "Now you come again to mock me. Why do you keep coming back to stare at me?"

It was clear to Chat Noir that Adrien thought he was a hallucination and was very drunk. He decided to try asking him some questions anyway. Maybe he'd be more open if he thought he was just talking to himself, which he kind of was anyway.

"Why aren't you Chat Noir anymore?"

"'Cuz I attacked the woman I loved, duh."

"Who, Ladybug?"

"No, Marinette," Adrien slurred, looking away from Chat. "You know all this. You know what happened, what I did to Marinette."

"Why do you say I am a lie? Why do you say you were only living a lie?"

"This is some fucked up introspection," Adrien scoffed, grabbing an unopened bottle of vodka from the coffee table, clutching it in his hands, but not yet trying to open it. "All that we were fighting for…fighting against…He was so close, but I could never see it. I know that he was just manipulating me. There's no way he didn't know who I was the entire time."

"Who are you talking about?" Chat asked.

"Hawkmoth of course, you idiot."

"How could he have known who you were? There's no way he's been manipulating me."

"Chat Noir has always been foolish and stupid," Adrien scoffed. "I'm not surprised you are still so stubborn about this. That's why I locked you away and left that life. So I couldn't be manipulated by father anymore…couldn't hurt anyone else. You are the personification of destruction after all."

"Wait, I thought you said Hawkmoth was manipulating you, not father."

Adrien sneered at Chat Noir.

"Our father was Hawkmoth, you moron, having to explain it to you over and over isn't going to change that fact."

Chat Noir was suddenly aware that there was a buzzing in his ears and he was on his hands and knees on the floor, he didn't remember falling. The self-destructive behavior, quitting the team, the guilt and self-hatred that was almost palpable in the room around his older self. It all made sense to Chat now, but he didn't want to admit it.

"No, Hawkmoth couldn't be our father…it's not possible."

"It's him, his miraculous was removed right in front of me. We found him in a secret room in the mansion."

"But, he was akumatized…he…"

"That was an impressive deception," Adrien scoffed. "He could create an akuma and then detransform. He just had to make himself the perfect host."

He had the miraculous book, Chat thought. It makes sense. I can't deny it anymore. Dad is Hawkmoth.

"He was Hawkmoth, I was Chat Noir, I just know he was using me to get to Ladybug. There's no way he didn't know who I was."

"Have you spoken to him about it?" Chat asked.

"I haven't spoken to him since the night we found out he was Hawkmoth and I haven't seen him since the day he was sentenced to life in prison."

Adrien took a swig of vodka from the new bottle and began laughing.

"Then I tore down his mansion. All his designs were still in there. The portrait of him, me and mom that we had in the dining room, I left that there too. Let it be destroyed like he destroyed our family."

Adrien laughed for a few more seconds before taking another drink.

"I lost everything that night. Marinette, my father, my future, myself. Now, I just try to forget," Adrien raised his bottle.

"Did father ever say why he did what he did as Hawkmoth?"

"Nothing specific," Adrien said, shaking his head. "Just some mumbo jumbo about obtaining ultimate power. I really couldn't care less what that piece of shit wanted."

"Where's Plagg? Where's your miraculous?"

"I took the ring off three years ago and put in my jewelry case. Haven't looked at it since."

The older Adrien looked into Chat's eyes and scowled.

"I've had enough of this introspection. You've stayed around too long, far longer than any of the other times you showed up to haunt me. Now get out of here!"

Adrien sprung forward and swung at Chat's head. The teens quick reflexes and Adrien's drunken unsteadiness made the attack easy to fend off. Adrien gasped and stumbled back onto his rear as his hand came into contact with Chat's forearm.

"What…what you're real?" he cried, sounding somewhat more sober than before. "Who…who are you?"

* * *

It had been a long and shocking day.

Yes, that's it, Marinette thought, still standing at the window Chat Noir had jumped out of. It's been a very long and shocking day.

She was trying to rationalize why she wasn't following the cat-themed hero. She knew him trying to contact his future self probably wasn't a good idea. Who knows how the man would react to seeing him. Marinette had already guessed, based on the behavior of Alya and the older Marinette, that the future Adrien wouldn't be happy to see his younger self or anyone from his past life. But, it wasn't just the time travel issue that had shocked her, it was the revelation that Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste and what he had said just before he left the apartment.

He liked that I wasn't acting clumsy around him anymore, she thought. I didn't even notice that I was acting any different. But, do I act any better as Ladybug? I've made mistakes. I was responsible for the creation of Volpina as Ladybug and Riposte as Marinette. Am I really extra talented and confident when I am Ladybug as opposed to Marinette? Where does one end and the other begin?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from the area of the bedrooms. Marinette turned to see her future self walk into the living room and sit on the couch. Apparently realizing that her teenage self was the only other person in the room, she looked around in alarm. She glanced back at the bathroom.

"Where's Adrien?" she asked.

"Uh…he uh…he went to find the current Adrien," Marinette said quietly.

"What!"

The older Marinette shot up from the couch and stepped towards the window.

"And you just let him go? At best, Adrien will not be welcoming."

The teen shrank back from her adult self and looked at the floor.

"I didn't...I don't see the harm really…You didn't really say what happened to him."

Marinette scowled at the teen, shaking her head.

"We have to go get him. How did he locate his future self?"

"Plagg could sense him," the teen explained.

"I should have known," Marinette sighed. "I'll have to go track him down. Trixx, let's pounce!"

Marinette transformed into Rena Rouge and stepped onto the windowsill.

"Spots on!"

Rena Rouge turned to face the young Ladybug.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going with you," Ladybug said. "I can help convince Chat to come back with us."

"I'm perfectly capable of convincing him to come back," Rena Rouge said. "You need to stay here where it is safe. We can't risk you getting killed if there is some sort of attack or accident. Stay here."

Ladybug responded by jumping out the window and using her yoyo to swing away from the building in the same direction that Chat Noir had gone. She didn't know where Chat had gone, but just continued running on the rooftops along the street until Rena jumped in front of her from the street below.

"You stubborn little girl," Rena Rouge cried, blocking the girl's path. "Go back to the apartment!"

"No, I want to know what happened to your Chat Noir, just as much as my Chat wants to. We've already travelled a fair distance from the apartment. We'd just be wasting time going back now. We need to find my Chat Noir."

"Then why didn't you follow him when he left?"

Marinette thought back on Adrien's words and shook her head.

"Doesn't matter now, let's just go find him."

Rena sighed.

"Fine, let's go and quit wasting time. Just let me do the talking OK?"

"Whatever," Ladybug shrugged.

Rena Rouge led the way further down the street and jumped across an intersection.

"You might as well know," the older Marinette said. "Adrien and I dated for about a year before we defeated Hawkmoth. After what happened with Hawkmoth, Adrien walked away from his life as Chat Noir and got heavily into alcohol and there have been rumors of drug use. He has never tried to hide the drinking. He's even been arrested twice for driving under the influence of alcohol."

"That doesn't sound like Adrien at all! That can't be true."

"It is true," Rena said sadly. "A lot has changed in six years. The people you knew back then have changed. The Adrien you-I knew six years ago was just for show. His Chat Noir persona was far closer to his real personality. He was taught to be the person that everyone would like, to always be polite and soft spoken."

Ladybug saw that they were approaching the business district.

"What happened to him exactly? To you…me?"

Rena Rouge stopped dead in her tracks. Ladybug studied her face. The woman's expression told her she was fighting some internal turmoil.

"You know too much already, you might as well know the whole story. Alya will kick my butt for this, but I don't really care. We found Hawkmoth that night in his hideout. His hideout was in Adrien's mansion."

Ladybug felt like the world was shaking beneath her and needed to sit down. Rena did not turn to look at her, she just continued to look out over the brilliantly lit skyscrapers looming in front of them.

"Why would his hideout be at the Agreste mansion?" Ladybug asked.

"Because Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste."

As Ladybug tried to come up with a reason as to how Gabriel couldn't be Hawkmoth, Rena continued to speak.

"It was three years ago. I-you, as Ladybug have the ability to sense akumas at short range. I was out with Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, Carapace and of course Chat Noir when I sensed several of them in one place. At the time, I didn't realize where we were, but we entered an old house very close to where I sensed the akumas. It was a large abandoned house, the one on the other side of Adrien's mansion. Anyway, I suggested we split up and search the place. Hawkmoth had a security system full of nasty traps. I got caught in one of them and captured.

"Chat, Carapace, Rena and Queenie found their way into the Agreste mansion and figured out who Hawkmoth was. That was the first blow Chat took. The next was seeing me, unconscious at his father as Hawkmoth's feet. Hawkmoth had akumatized Gorilla and Nathalie and a few passersby. He had them attack our team. Chat Noir focused on his father. Hawkmoth kicked me a bunch of times apparently and that enraged Chat. He was akumatized and attacked his father. Chat called himself Cataclysm. Well, I woke up and watched as Cataclysm killed Gorilla and Nathalie as they attacked him.

"He went after his father next. I was able to defeat Chat and cleanse his miraculous ring, but I took a hit from him. It wasn't a serious hit. The others captured Hawkmoth and removed his miraculous. Queenie whisked Chat and I away while Rena and Carapace handed over the butterfly miraculous and Gabriel Agreste to the police. Before leaving the mansion, they found the peacock miraculous which Gabriel had locked up in a secret safe. Cleansing the akumas didn't restore Gorilla's or Nathalie's lives. My power as Ladybug can repair damage and heal minor wounds, but it can't bring people back to life. That was the third blow Chat took, knowing that he'd killed someone.

"I stepped down as leader that day, I was going to quit altogether, but Alya begged me to stay. It was my poor planning that caused all that heartbreak. It could have been prevented if I hadn't just lead everyone into that building without a plan. Adrien barely spoke to me up until his father's trial and hasn't spoken to me since. He did say that he doesn't blame me for what happened, but it was just too painful to be around me or the team anymore. He blamed himself for not seeing his father for who he was and stopping him sooner."

"It wasn't Adrien's fault though," Ladybug cried. "Mr. Agreste clearly fooled everyone. He even akumatized himself to allay our suspicions when Adrien found that book."

"The logical reaction isn't always the reaction you get."

"Did you ever find out why Hawkmoth did what he did? I know he wanted our miraculouses for something."

"He refused to say anything specific about it," Rena Rouge said.

"Does he know Chat Noir is his son?"

"No, not that I know of," Rena said and then let out a short laugh. "It'd serve him right to know what he did to his son. He worked so hard to keep his son separate from the world he made dangerous and he was fighting his son the whole time."

Rena Rouge continued to laugh a humorless laugh for a few more seconds before finally falling silent.

"Let's get going," she said.

Not more than a second later, the roof beneath their feet shook as an explosion rang out from a few blocks away. A green plume of smoke rose from between the buildings.

"It's the Cataclysm Centurions," Rena Rouge cried out over the roaring sound of the explosion. "You stay right here!"


	5. Fighting with the Enemy

"Who…who are you?"

Chat Noir took a few steps back from his older self. The twenty-one-year-old had already shown that he could lash out in anger. Chat didn't want to be hit with any bottles after what he was planning to do next. Chat detransformed.

"I'm you, Adrien."

The man stared dumbly at the teenager for what seemed like an eternity to the boy. Finally, the older Adrien gulped and spoke.

"Not…not a hallucination?"

"No…do you hallucinate often?"

"No, lots of dreams though."

"Where did you put your miraculous again?" young Adrien asked.

"It's in the box I received it in years ago. It's in the bottom of my jewelry box. I haven't looked at it in a couple years, not since I moved into this place."

"You need to clean yourself up," teen Adrien said, shaking his head. "You are a disgrace."

Plagg agreed from his perch on the fifteen-year-old's shoulder. The older Adrien scoffed quietly.

"You think I don't know I am a disgrace?" he sneered, clenching his fists. "I know what I am."

He took a drink from his vodka bottle.

"I try to forget," he said. "This stuff doesn't help for long."

"Go get your miraculous and come with me."

"No, I don't deserve to wear it. I'm a murderer!"

The teenage Adrien was about to ask what he meant by that when the apartment building was rattled by an explosion. He rushed out of the sliding glass door, his older self right behind him. The older Adrien joined the teen at the railing on the patio after tripping over a wicker chair and nearly falling. They watched as a green plume of smoke rose over the rooftops from a few miles away.

"That's the Cataclysm Centurions' signature, green smoke," the older Adrien said. "They are trying to kill the Miraculous League."

The teen transformed into Chat Noir and turned to the man.

"And you let them try?" Chat growled at him. "You coming to help out?"

"No, you shouldn't go either."

"Why is that?"

"If you die, I won't…actually, never mind. You go right ahead."

Chat shook his head and leapt from the patio, using his staff to maneuver his way to the rooftops across the street.

This has to be a dream, he thought, as he left his depressing older self behind. I can't have become that guy, even if dad turned out to be Hawkmoth.

* * *

"Stay here, Marinette!" the older version shouted, preparing to leap from the roof.

"No, I can help, I'm going with you! You know that I'm very skilled at this type of thing!"

"I know that, but I can't risk you or Adrien being killed or hurt! It would destroy the timeline! Well, more than it probably already is."

"You know my Lucky Charm can heal wounds and I'll be very careful," Ladybug pleaded. "We're wasting time, I'm going."

The girl got out her yoyo and swung it around vertically, building up momentum, before shooting it at tall streetlight across the street. The teenager left her older self standing, fuming on the roof and travelled as quickly as she could towards the source of the explosion and smoke. Rena Rouge was easily able to catch up with her due to the fox miraculous' powers of enhanced agility and speed.

"You are a foolish and stubborn girl," Rena yelled at her younger self as they moved along the rooftops.

"I know you are, but what am I?" Ladybug laughed at her own sarcastic joke.

Rena Rouge let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head.

"Yah, yah, insulting you is just insulting me," she said. "But, you need to listen to me. You need to go back to the apartment, things aren't like they were before. We don't fight akumas anymore. You can't just wave your yoyo around and shout 'lucky charm' to make things better anymore. We mostly fight regular criminals now. Now, there are the Cataclysm Centurions. They are far worse than Hawkmoth ever was and the Lucky Charm doesn't work on them."

But, her younger self clearly wasn't listening to her. The pair arrived at the site of the explosion. Green and gray smoke was pouring from one side of what appeared to be a large warehouse. There were three armored vehicles speeding away from the warehouse. Rena Rouge pulled out her long flute weapon and played a short tune.

"Mirage!"

A copy of herself along with images of her Miraculous League teammates appeared on the roof around her and her younger self. The copies sprung, swung and flew forward and all landed on top of the vehicles. Rena Rouge turned to the younger Ladybug.

"You stay here and do not use your lucky charm!" she commanded before running and leaping onto the last of the three armored vans.

Ladybug saw Queen Bee fly overhead and Alya as her version of Ladybug swing down to join Rena Rouge. Ladybug's attention was grabbed by a black, leather clad form racing along the rooftops across the street from her. It was none other than her gangly, teenage Chat Noir. She shook her head. She couldn't think of Chat Noir as the gangly and goofy cat themed hero anymore. Just as she couldn't think of Adrien Agreste as the handsome and perfect model anymore. They were just two parts of the same person.

The girl swung down to meet her partner on the street. The three adult heroes and Rena's mirages had stopped the fleeing Cataclysm Centurions and Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Queen Bee were now battling with over a dozen of the leather clad villains.

"Did you find your older self?" she asked.

"Yes, but I'll tell you about it later, let's help them!"

Ladybug unwound her yoyo from around her waist. She reasoned that the three Miraculous League members were about to lose one of their group, Rena Rouge had just used her miraculous powers and would only have a few more minutes before she detransformed.

The Centurions were armed with twin short swords and twin laser pistols, a weapon that neither teenager had ever seen before. Ladybug immediately rushed over to her older self and used her yoyo to pull a pistol out of an enemy woman's hand, smacking another nearby Centurion hard in the face with it before bringing it back to herself and crushing the barrel with her foot. She glanced to the side at Rena Rouge. She was using her flute to deflect the blows of a man with two short swords. The teen quickly used her yoyo to tie up the enraged Centurion she had hit in the face with the laser pistol, who was in the process of charging her. The man tripped and fell forward onto his stomach, smacking his head on the unforgiving asphalt.

"You should go recharge," Ladybug said. "I know you only have a minute or two left."

"You're right, but you need to get out of here," Rena said tersely. "You can't be injured."

"That's my choice to make. Now, go! You know I'm right about this!"

Rena's miraculous beeped its final warning.

"Fine, but be careful and whatever you do, don't use your Lucky Charm. The Centurions feed off it somehow. I'll be back in a couple minutes."

The woman jumped away onto a nearby roof top. Ladybug used her yoyo to entangle another Centurion who tried to follow her future self and quickly put him out of commission with a knee to his stomach and then to his head. She wondered about what her future self had told her about her Lucky Charm. She hoped she wouldn't be forced to use it, but it was what she usually relied on to defeat enemies.

Nearby and at the same time, Chat leapt onto the back of a male who was about to attack Queen Bee from behind. The blonde-haired hero was easily fending off the three men and one woman who had singled her out with her yellow and black striped trompo. She expertly used the electrically charged top to deliver bludgeoning attacks to each of her four foes heads and solar plexuses, finishing them off with an electrical shock that hit all four of them at the same time. She just hadn't noticed a fifth attacker sneak up behind her.

With one foot planted on the male Centurion's shoulder and the other in the center of his back, Chat Noir shoved the man forward, smacking him on the back of the head with his staff. The man fell to the ground and Chat thought it felt like he deflated a little bit beneath his feet. Queen Bee turned to look at the teenager, a look of confusion crossing her black-masked face. Finally, she smiled.

"Oh, right, it's the teen Chat Noir," she said. "I thought I was seeing things there for a moment. Thanks for the help!"

The two heroes stood back to back as two more Cataclysm Centurions closed in on them.

"I can't believe Lady and Rena let you come," Queen Bee said, deflecting two simultaneous laser blasts with her magical top. "I'm not complaining though. Always can use the help with these guys."

"Who are the Cataclysm Centurions anyway?" he asked, parrying his enemy's slashing sword attacks. He noted that their leather armor closely resembled the style he had seen Roman soldiers wearing in his history textbooks.

"They want to destroy the miraculouses," Bee explained. "They are very old. I don't know for sure, but I think they are what destroyed the temple the miraculous' were originally kept at. I base that theory on what little we've learned from their members and from old Master Fu."

"Their armor, it looks a lot like old Roman armor," Chat said, parrying a thrust from his opponent.

"We've noticed that as well," Bee said. "I've always thought they were at least inspired by them."

Chat had managed to knock one of his opponent's swords away, but he was finding it nearly impossible to get the upper hand, even with his finely honed fencing skills and natural and miraculously enhanced agility. The man was clearly an accomplished fighter and Chat felt like there was something more at play. There was an aura surrounding the Centurions that he found both unsettling and familiar, but he couldn't quite tell what this aura was. He jumped back to avoid a blow from his opponent and turned to his companion who had defeated her opponent and was taking on two more Centurions.

"Do these guys have any miraculous powers of their own?" he asked, somehow knowing this was the right question to ask.

"Not exactly," Bee grunted, punching a female Centurion in the stomach and pushing her away. "They have a magical power source at their home base. None of us have ever seen it. It acts as a sort of opposing force to our miraculouses. It repels some and feeds off of others, one in particular. Make sure your partner doesn't use her Lucky Charm."

"Why not?"

It was as if she had heard him tell her to use her Lucky Charm power, because at that moment, the entire group heard the teenage Ladybug cry out her catch phrase and swing her yoyo around to power up her special magic attack.

"Lucky Charm!"

"No!" cried Alya as Ladybug.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Instead creating an item that Ladybug could use, the power was pulled from her spinning yoyo and shot into the Centurions' bodies.

"What?" the teenager gaped at the green-clad men and women as those that had been defeated rose to their feet, seemingly unharmed.

"I warned you not to do that!" Rena Rouge screamed at the girl, running towards her and smacking a Centurion out of her way with her flute.

In truth, the teenage Ladybug had no other options available to her based on her ability level. She had been surrounded by four Centurions, all pointing their pistols at her. The others were busy dealing with their own opponents to notice what was happening to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do!" she cried as Rena knocked out a Centurion who was pulling the triggers of his twin pistols to fire on the teenage Ladybug.

By this time, the city's police force had arrived en masse and were surrounding the Cataclysm Centurions and Miraculous League. The heroes felt slightly relieved at the arrival of law enforcement, but it was going to be a tough fight due to the Centurions' Lucky Charm enhanced strength and regenerated health. Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge and the two Ladybugs grouped together, their backs to one another and facing their enemies. Several of the Centurions could be heard snickering wickedly as they attempted to encircle the Miraculous League.

The Centurions jumped forward as a group at the heroes. The beleaguered group were able to deflect the attack, but just barely. Chat Noir was charged by three men with twin swords and couldn't quite avoid one of the blades and received a small slash to his right shoulder. It didn't look good for the five heroes, but a sudden voice startled everyone present.

"Winds of Change!"

Out of seemingly nowhere, a blast air hit the Centurions. At first it had acted like a large object hitting the green-clad men and women, but it quickly started swirling around itself and formed a small, but extremely powerful tornado. Gaining strength as it moved along, it sucked in each Centurion as it reached them and tossed him or her up into the sky. Most landed on the hard pavement of the streets and sidewalks, but a few landed on the nearby police cruisers. The four that were able to get out of the way of the powerful tornado, were met with a powerful attack from Carapace. The young man used his shell and enhanced strength to easily attack and deflect the blows of the fleeing Centurions. In moments, it was over for the green-clad enemies.

Chat and the teenage Ladybug looked across the street as the winds around them died down and the police and Miraculous League began rounding up the fallen Centurions. None had been able to escape once the tornado had appeared. The teens watched as Peacock collapsed into a sitting position. Sweat was dripping down his face. Marinette hurried over to him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," he said, wearily, his accent even thicker. "Tornado attacks are really tiring."

"You should go recharge," the teenage Ladybug told him. "That was your miraculous power, wasn't it?"

"You should to, I'm assuming you were the cause of the Centurions regaining their strength. Alya knows better. I would think they would have warned you about that."

"They did, but I didn't have a choice. I didn't know what else to do."

"Well, what's done is done, you have to learn to live with the mistakes you have made," Queen Bee said, coming up behind the teenager. "I learned that lesson the hard way. Now, you both need to go recharge. Meet us on that roof right over there."

The blonde pointed to the flat roofed building directly across the street from where they were standing. Marinette nodded and hurried away to a secluded alcove nearby. She gave Tikki a cookie once she detransformed and after a few minutes, she was able to rejoin the others. Peacock and Carapace were not there, but the three female heroes were and were clustered around Chat Noir. Alya as Ladybug was examining Chat's shoulder. Marinette hurried over to him, remembering guiltily the incident she had inadvertently caused, resulting in the creation of Riposte.

"Chat are you OK?"

"Yah, it's just a little cut," he said. "Doesn't even hurt."

"It's superficial," Alya told her. "I'll bandage it up once we are back at the apartment. Carapace is talking to the police, where's Peacock?"

"I'm here," the red-haired man said, landing on the roof next to Alya. "Duuzu took her time eating and she was obsessing over Chat Noir. Apparently one of her previous holders was very close to him in the past."

Chat Noir gave the man a puzzled look, but didn't have a chance to ask what he meant. At that moment, Carapace joined them.

"Nothing more to be done here," he said. "I'll tell you what little I learned at the apartment."

"Understood, let's go everyone," Alya said, turning in the direction of her apartment.

* * *

Adrien leaned back into the couch cushions tiredly. Looking at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was just after midnight. He felt like he'd been awake for days. His eyes moved to Alya at his right. She had just finished bandaging his shoulder. His Marinette looked at him nervously from the armchair just beyond their shared friend. The rest of the Miraculous League sat around the living area and kitchen. Carapace, Queen Bee and Peacock had chosen to remain in their disguises. Alya shut the first aid kit loudly.

"Now that your injury has been treated, it's time to talk about what just happened," she said sternly. "Both of you were told to remain here. You both flagrantly disregarded my orders. How could you be so stupid? You could have been killed and then where would we be?"

Alya closed her eyes and rubbed her temples for a moment before giving Adrien what some would describe as a death stare.

"It was a very stupid idea to try to speak to your future self," she said. "He's unstable."

"I was trying to do as that green hooded man said," Adrien said. "Right what went wrong, is what the man said. I need to get myself back on track and restore Marinette as Ladybug."

"I no longer wish to be Ladybug," the older Marinette said. "I chose to step down. I just couldn't be her any longer. You won't be able to change that."

"I didn't force Marinette to step down as Ladybug," Alya said. "The moment she wants my miraculous back, she can have it. Adrien, you have to understand, people change over time. The Marinette and Adrien from this moment in time are different from you and your Marinette. It's a natural process. Our Adrien…I think he's too far gone now anyway."

"He said he was a murderer," Adrien said. "What does that mean? He…he said Hawkmoth is my father. I'm still having a hard time dealing with that."

Alya looked to her Marinette.

"I told Marinette about what happened when we captured Hawkmoth," the adult Marinette said. "I'll tell him the whole story too."

Adrien's face grew pale as he was told the whole story of that fateful night.

"I killed Nathalie and Gorilla? I couldn't have…"

"You weren't yourself," Bee said, placing a gentle hand on his left shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

"No wonder I'm so messed up in the future," Adrien muttered.

"Sorry to change the subject," Nino spoke up. "But, it is getting late. I'd like to share the info I got from the police about the Centurion attack tonight."

"Yes, right," Alya said, sitting on the couch next to Adrien. "Let's hear it."

"It's not much," he said. "They were stealing chemicals from that warehouse, highly volatile ones. Their explosives were set off by accident, they were supposed to go off later, after the Centurions had left the scene. The captain said that the chemicals they had in their vehicles were all useful for making explosives."

"They are all dressed a lot like the mysterious man who sent us to the future," the teenage Marinette said, still staring at Adrien with a nervous look in her eyes. "Didn't you notice that, Adrien?"

"Now that you mention it, yah, he looked similar."

"They are old," Wayzz spoke up. "They were around long before Master Fu. They are evil incarnate. They want to kill us kwami. They killed the first Peacock we had in our team."

Young Marinette and Adrien looked at the current Peacock in slight shock. For some reason, the possibility of one of them being killed had never occurred to them.

I rely too much on my Lucky Charm, Marinette thought. So much so, I nearly got us all killed tonight.

"So, these Cataclysm Centurions, where do they come from?" she asked. "Who's their leader?"

"We know little about them," Alya said. "We know they are trying to destroy the miraculouses, but other than that there is very little we know. We don't know who their leader is, where they operate from or their ultimate goals."

"It's odd that the mystery man is dressed like them, don't you think?" teen Marinette asked.

"It is very odd," the other Marinette said. "If they are related in some way, it certainly throw his actions in a new light."

"Also, they feed off my powers," the younger Marinette said. "You told me not to use my Lucky Charm and I did. I'm sorry about that. Are they miraculous users or magic users?"

"Definitely magic users," Nino said.

"Hey, what about this," Adrien spoke up. "If Ladybug's powers increase their power, wouldn't my powers of destruction decrease theirs?"


	6. A Future Revealed

"If Ladybug's powers increase their power, wouldn't my powers of destruction decrease theirs?"

The Miraculous League members all looked at one another, realizing that they had never thought of that. Chat Noir had left their company well before the appearance of the Cataclysm Centurions and since they no longer had access to his powers, it had just never occurred to them that his powers would be helpful.

"I knew we should have just taken that miraculous from him," Peacock muttered, shaking his head.

Alya shot him a dark look, but no one said anything.

"Maybe that was the true reason we were sent to the future," Adrien continued. "It was for more than just helping my future self and Marinette fix what my father broke. The Centurions need to be defeated and if your Chat Noir won't help you, I will."

"If you are correct," Peacock said. "You can be our weapon against the Centurions, we won't need your future alcoholic self at all. Although, I do think it was very idiotic of that mystery man to send you and the young Ladybug to the future. If you die, this entire timeline is lost."

Alya had just opened her mouth to speak when suddenly a green cloaked figure soundlessly dropped into the room from the roof hatch above their heads. He landed gracefully in the center of the living room, his heavy hood concealing his face. Despite the fact that neither of the teenagers could see the man's face and they had only caught a split second glimpse of him in their single previous meeting, they both knew that this was the mystery man that had sent them to the future.

"I needed some insurance," the man said, his voice deep and rather soothing to the ear.

He straightened his shoulders and looked towards Adrien, but did not remove the hood covering the top half of his face.

"I apologize for intruding on you young ones," he said. "I also apologize for not contacting you all sooner than now. Time travel takes a lot out of me and I needed to rest and recharge before I could do anything more."

The group stared in shocked silence as the man removed his hood and cloak to reveal his face and body. He was thin, almost to the point of being emaciated. His gray hair had been shaved in the recent past, but was starting to grow back, showing the clear signs of a receding hairline. His goatee was steel grey, but well groomed. His eyes were bloodshot. Under his cloak he was wearing a turtle-themed costume with a hood and shell shield on his back. Despite his greatly changed appearance, everyone in the room recognized him as an older version of their Carapace. The younger Carapace approached him.

"So, our hypothesis was right?" he said. "You are me?"

The old man nodded.

"Why are you here?" Nino asked. "Why did you send Adrien and Marinette to the future?"

The elderly Carapace sunk unto a dining room chair. His face was pale.

"I am trying to prevent your future, my present from occurring," he said matter-of-factly. "Fifty years from now, the world is a hopeless and dark place. There is no free thought. All of the different countries you know from today are long gone. There is no France, no European Union, no United States, Russia, China, they are all long gone. There are few of us left that remember what living in a free world was like."

"What happened?" the teenage Marinette asked.

"The Cataclysm Centurions are what happened," Carapace said solemnly. "They strategically dismantled all the world's governments, starting with the E.U. They are powered by some type of Kwami. Kwami are the physical representation of abstract ideas and emotions. Normally, there is only one Kwami per idea, Tikki for creation, Plagg for destruction and so on. They have multiple copies of the same Kwami somehow. I do not know what the Kwami looks like or how old it is. Its power is that of mind control and that power can be magically amplified."

"So, the Centurions used this miraculous to take over everyone's minds," young Marinette said.

"Yes, that is exactly what happened," the elderly man nodded. "I got ahold of the book that Gabriel Agreste had about the miraculouses a few years back, well in my time, and there is no mention of a Kwami or miraculous with mind control powers. It must be one that Master Fu's monastery had no knowledge of, maybe a Kwami that the Centurions brought into this world themselves."

Carapace sighed, he was growing more and more tired and pale as he spoke.

"I am the last living member of the Miraculous League. Chat Noir, while not a member, was the first to be killed by the Centurions. That is what I am trying to prevent, his death. He is the only one from this time who can destroy the Centurions magic source. Luckily, they never got ahold of his miraculous. What became of it in my time, I don't know. I want my broken friend to be the one to stop the Centurions, that way maybe he can also save himself. But, if I can't get him to cooperate, I will need his younger self to do it in his place. I can't fail in my mission. In my time, there is nothing but despair for the few of us that still have control of our own minds. Billions of people are under the Centurions' control, they are forced to work day in an day out. It didn't take them very long. We have to stop them now…they only have one mind control generator assembled…will be activated…they kill my best friend…I tried to save…must…save…"

The young Carapace and Queen Bee caught the elderly Carapace as he fell forward out of the chair.

"He's out cold," Nino said.

He and Queen Bee laid the old man out on the couch. The twenty-one-year-old Marinette grabbed a cloth from the kitchen and wetted it with cold water from the sink. Bringing it over to the stricken man, she placed it across his forehead.

"What are we going to do with him?" Peacock asked. "Do we believe his story? What if he is under the Centurions' mind control as well? What if they sent him to us as a way to manipulate us?"

"I believe him," Nino said, destransforming. He looked to Wayzz.

"It's definitely you," Wayzz said, shaking his head. "He's not well. I think he will die soon."

The old Carapace grunted and opened his eyes.

"Wayzz is right," he whispered. "I can only do one more time jump and it will probably kill me...You also must believe, I'm not under the control of the Centurions. I have no way to prove it, you'll just have to trust me."

"We're a long way from being able to trust you," Peacock said, narrowing his eyes at the stricken man.

The older Marinette patted Peacock on the shoulder and sat next to the elderly Carapace on the couch.

"Would you like some food or water? Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"Some water and maybe food would be nice."

Marinette turned to Alya, who nodded and got some crackers, a granola bar and a glass of water from the kitchen. Carapace took a bite from the granola bar, ate one cracker and took several slow sips from the glass before Marinette spoke again.

"You said something about a mind control generator and Adrien Agreste being killed by the Cataclysm Centurions, could you tell us more about those two things?"

The man nodded and took another sip of water.

"Fifty years from now there are hundreds of these mind control generators, each powered by a Kwami. There are far too many for the few free thinking humans to destroy. We've managed to destroy a few here and there, but it never has an effect. We stopped trying over a decade ago. But, as of your time, there is only one, located somewhere in Paris. They will be activating it six months from today. After that, the take over was quick. Within a year, Ladybug and Peacock were dead. Queenie and Rena Rogue were gone within the following two years. I went into hiding. I had no other choice. They couldn't bring us under their mind control due to our Kwamis, so they just killed us."

The Miraculous League and the teenagers looked at one another in shock.

"And what happens to Adrien?" the teenage Marinette asked.

"They kill him and make it look like an accident," Carapace explained. "Once I learned how to time jump, I went back to the day he was killed and tried to save him, but it didn't work. He would just die the next day in a different way. I jumped back a dozen times, nothing worked. He always died. It's like he is destined to die."

"Wait, wait, wait," Peacock said loudly, interrupting. "If you can time travel, why didn't you just travel to the time that the Centurions were first formed? That would be the easiest way to do it."

"It would be, but I have limits to my powers," Carapace said, taking another sip of water. "There is no record of when or where the Centurions formed. They are hundreds, maybe thousands of years old. I can only travel sixty or so years in either direction. Plus, through my research with the miraculous book, Master Fu's records and experience fighting with the Miraculous League, I have determined that only the miraculous of destruction can completely destroy their Kwami.

"So, like I have been saying, I have two motives for sending the past Adrien, and Marinette, to the future. First is to try to save the present Adrien. The second is, if I can't save him, I will still have a holder of the miraculous of destruction at my disposal to defeat the Centurions."

"Frankly, I think your plan is terrible," Peacock scoffed. "Let's just go over to Adrien's place and take the miraculous back."

"That would be an absolute last resort," Alya said. "Adrien has suffered enough. Taking it by force wouldn't be the right thing to do."

"I admit, my wish to save my old friend is heavily influencing my decisions," Carapace said. "I hope the young Adrien can get through to his older, jaded self and turn him back into the hero he really is. I wanted him to save himself from the pain and despair Hawkmoth created. I fully believe that the Centurions saw that Chat Noir was gone and took their chance to come out into the open."

"When do the Centurions strike against our Adrien?" the adult Marinette asked.

"It is what, 1 a.m. now?" Carapace asked, looking for a clock.

"It is," Nino said.

"It will be on the evening of this day. They make it look like a car accident, but what really happens is they drug him while he is in his penthouse apartment, make him drink a bunch of alcohol and put him in his car. Then, they propel it over cliff south of the city. He is known to have driven drunk in the past, so they easily fool the local authorities. Through my own efforts, I know that they take him around noon and not before."

The elderly Carapace's voice grew weaker as he spoke. By the time he was finished speaking, his voice was nearly a whisper and his eyes were closed.

"How…how did you learn of time travel?" Nino asked him. "How did you learn how to do it?"

Carapace opened his eyes and looked at his younger self.

"From the book," he whispered. "It was in a police vault in Paris. I found it thirty years from now and studied it. Taught myself to read Mandarin. I did short practice time jumps until I could do longer jumps. I was desperate for a way to defeat the Cataclysm Centurions."

Carapace groaned and closed his eyes, going still. The older Marinette gasped and pressed her fingers to his throat for a few seconds. She blew out a sigh of relief at finding a thread pulse.

"I thought he was dead for a second," she said.

"By the looks of him, he could be at any moment," Peacock said.

"Now what do we do?" young Marinette asked.

"We go save my future self of course," Adrien said. "Plagg, claws…"

"Not yet," Alya interrupted. "Your future self is safe for a few hours at least. None of us has gotten any sleep tonight. Plus, we need more information from Carapace. He didn't tell us where the Centurions' mind control generator is. I also have some questions, like how does the mind control work exactly. We need more information before I will send any of us out, that includes you and your Marinette, Adrien. Everyone go home and get some sleep, meet back here at 7 a.m. From here we will all go contact Adrien."

"Hey, how do we really know that the future Carapace isn't under some form of mind control and is trying to deceive us?" Peacock spoke up.

They all looked to the passed out man lying motionless on the couch.

"We'll just have wait and see," Alya said. "He's all we have to go on.


	7. Sacrifice

_Bang bang bang_

The fifteen-year-old Marinette managed to pry open her eyes and straighten up in the armchair, catching a glimpse at the clock mounted on the wall. It was 6 a.m. according to the device. The girl groaned inwardly, _hadn't it just said 3 a.m.?_ she asked herself. When the group had decided to bed down for the night, her older self had volunteered to watch over the elderly Carapace until 3 a.m. and the younger Marinette had offered to take 3 a.m. and after. Apparently, she had fallen asleep.

 _Bang Bang BANG._

There was someone at the apartment's front door.

"What's going on out there?" Nino shouted as he threw open the door to Alya's bedroom and stepped out, Alya just behind him. He had stayed over, wanting to examine the Miraculous book with Alya. Queen Bee and Peacock had opted to return to their homes.

Adrien slid out from within his sleeping bag and the older Marinette stepped out of her room as the banging continued. Nino pulled on a shirt as he reached the door. The door's hinges squeaked as the man pulled it open.

"You?" Nino said, his voice pinched.

The teenage Marinette hurried towards the door to see who was creating all of the fuss. She joined Nino and Alya at the front door. In the hallway, just outside the doorway stood a slightly disheveled, young man. Despite the passage of six years for him, Marinette could tell that this was the future's version of Adrien Agreste. Her Adrien drew up next to her.

"He looks better than he did last night," he whispered in her ear. "But he looks really hungover."

The twenty-one-year-old Marinette pushed past the quartet of speechless young people and faced the blonde young man. Silence hung over the group, enveloping them like a blanket, as the two former lovers and partners stared wide-eyed at each other. Finally, the older Marinette lunged forward in a way that initially looked like she was going to strike the blonde man, but instead she wrapped him in a tight bear hug and buried her face in his chest. After a brief moment of shock, Adrien wrapped his arms around her and they stood there, clinging to one another as the rest of the group gawked. Alya looked like she was just barely holding herself together. She was clearly not happy about her former friend's appearance.

"I'm glad you are OK," the older Marinette said, her voice muffled by Adrien's body.

"Better than I deserve," he said quietly.

Marinette stepped away from him and urged him into the apartment. The four people crowded in the doorway stepped to either side of it to let the former Ladybug and Chat Noir pass. The adult Adrien stopped to stare at the teenage Adrien and Marinette.

"I came…I had to be sure I wasn't just dreaming," he said. "That's why I came here."

"Why don't we all go sit in the living room," Alya said, her arms crossed and her face pinched in an unhappy expression. "We can talk in there and check up on our other guest."

The group did as Alya had suggested. The older Adrien gasped when he spotted the prone figure lying on the couch. The elderly Nino was still in his Carapace disguise and still out cold. Everyone but Alya found a place to sit down. The adult Marinette sat next to her one time partner, holding his hand. She found that she couldn't bear to let him go. Feeling that if she did, he would disappear for another six years. All the worry, anger and sadness at his absence melting away in seconds. He didn't appear to be bothered by her sudden clinginess.

"He seems to be the same as he was last night," Alya said, turning to the two Marinettes. "Did he wake at all?"

The older Marinette shook her head, the younger winced.

"I-I fell asleep, I'm sorry!"

"Well, it doesn't look like it made a difference," Alya sighed.

"Who is that?" the older Adrien asked, pointing to the elderly Carapace. "Is that Carapace? What is going on around here? First, I have the younger, more obnoxious version of myself show up last night. Then, I caught Queen Bee watching me through the window a couple hours later. Now, there's this old Carapace here? Someone tell me what's going on."

Alya frowned at the blonde man.

"I really don't see why we should tell you. You walked away from this life, remember? You don't have the right to come barging in here at six in the morning, demanding answers and toying with Marinette's emotions. Frankly, I didn't know you knew where we lived anymore!"

Alya looked at the former partners' interlocked hands meaningfully. Adrien quickly shook Marinette's hand away from his own. Marinette moved her hand onto her lap and stared at it sadly.

"I feel like I have a part in this," he continued. "I should know what is going on. There is another version of me and Marinette and Carapace in this room with us!"

Alya and Nino looked at one another, the woman sighed.

"Fine, this man," she motioned to the old Carapace, "Is Nino from fifty years in the future. He discovered how to use his miraculous to travel through time."

"So, he brought me and Marinette from the past, I'm assuming," the older Adrien said, looking to the two teens. "What for?"

"He's from a dystopian future," the young Nino said. "The world was taken over by the Cataclysm Centurions. Apparently, only the holder of the miraculous of destruction can destroy their power sources. There are hundreds, thousands of their mind control power stations in his time, but according to him, there is only one right now. Now is our last chance to destroy the Centurions."

"I see," Adrien said, nodding slightly. "Since I'm not available, he nabbed my teenage self. Why doesn't he just he just go to the time the Centurions first appeared and destroy them then?"

"No one knows when that was," Nino said. "He can only jump so far in time."

"Will you help us?" the young Marinette asked him. "Will you put your ring back on and fight with us?"

The young man looked around at his former friends and the teenagers, sighing. Marinette looked to be on the verge of tears. Alya's face was hard with barely contained anger. Nino's face appeared neutral. The teen's looked at him hopefully.

Ah, the optimism of my teenage years, Adrien thought.

He shook his head and stood from the couch.

"I can't help you," he said, making sure to not look at his Marinette. "I have no business wearing that ring, not after what I did. You have my past self. He can do everything I would be able to do. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't having a dream."

With that, the blonde hurried from the apartment, banging the door against the wall as he pulled it open too quickly. He wasn't able to slam it closed behind him though. The teenage Adrien had hurried after him. He wasn't going to let his older self just abandon his friends for a second time without a fight. The older Adrien flew down the small apartment building's main staircase as fast as he could. He knew his younger self was following him. He just wanted to leave.

Adrien managed to reach his car parked on the street next to the building and was fumbling to get his key fob out of his pants pocket before the teenager caught up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder. The twenty-one-year-old had nearly half a foot and fifty pounds on the boy, but the teenager was able to whirl him around as if he weighed nothing. Surprised by the younger Adrien's strength, the older stared wide eyed at him.

"You can't just leave your friends like this," the teenager shouted at him.

"I'm not their friend."

"You have the power to stop the destruction of the planet and you are refusing to help."

"They have you to do it," the older Adrien said. "They don't need me."

"I know you killed Gorilla and Nathalie," the teenager said, gently. "I know you feel responsible for what father did. I feel the same way about father. I feel like I should have known what he was doing, that he was Hawkmoth. But, you know that none of what happened was your fault."

The adult Adrien snorted.

"I was ever the optimist wasn't I?" he muttered.

"You can't just leave things like they are."

"Can't I? You assume that I care. I just came to make sure I wasn't dreaming last night when you showed up."

Now it was the teenaged Adrien's turn to snort.

"That's bullshit. I saw how you hugged Marinette, how you looked at her, and Alya and Nino. If you didn't care, then how did you know where Marinette and Alya live? They haven't been there very long."

"Fine, I keep tabs on Marinette…I worry about her…I still…"

The older man trailed off, then shook his head and looked up from the spot on the pavement he'd been staring at. He glared at the teen. He had found his key fob by that time and wrenched open the door to his car.

"Don't bother me again."

With that, the older Adrien pulled away from the curb and sped away down the street, well above the posted limit.

"You aren't getting off that easily," Adrien shouted at the disappearing vehicle. "Plagg, claws out!"

Chat Noir sprung onto a nearby building's roof and sprinted off after his fleeing future self. He figured that the man was going back to his apartment and he was correct. He watched as the older Adrien drove his car into the parking garage before he made his own way up to the penthouse apartment at the top of the tall building. He had to wait several minutes before the other Adrien finally walked through the front door and flopped down on the couch.

Chat tried to open the sliding glass door, but it was locked. He shrugged and knocked on the glass. Adrien sat up quickly and once he saw who was at the door, he scowled angrily. He stomped over to the door and flung it open.

"What are you doing here? Leave, now!"

"You need to come back to Marinette's apartment."

"Why? So I can be murdered over and over in Alya's head? No thanks. I am not wanted and don't deserve to be there."

"None of that is true. I'm trying to save your life."

"Afraid I'll die slowly from drink do you?"

"No…well, yah…but that's not the immediate issue. The old Nino told us something last night, something we didn't tell you at the apartment."

"What?"

"You are killed in a supposed accident tonight, but it was really the Cataclysm Centurions. They…"

Chat Noir didn't have a chance to finish his sentence, for at that moment he was delivered a shocking blast from behind. Waves of pain traveled up and down his body as he fell to his knees, leaving him breathless. His older self reached out and pulled him into the apartment. He managed to close the sliding glass door as another shot from a laser pistol hit it, causing a spiderwebbing crack. One more hit would shatter it.

Adrien pulled the gasping teenager out of the living room and into the kitchen. He heard the glass give way behind him.

"They…are here…for you," Chat gasped as he leaned against a kitchen cabinet, trying to regain his breath. "They…will take you…and kill you. This…this is what…sets off…old Nino's…timeline."

Adrien turned to face the group of Centurions that blocked the kitchen door. There were five of them, all men. There were at least five more in the living room beyond. Before Adrien could make another move, the teenaged Chat Noir had pushed him out of the way and attacked the nearest of the intruders. Taken by surprise, the two men were quickly subdued. The remainder though, they readied themselves for a fight. Chat extended his staff and dropped into a fighting stance. The older Adrien pulled a large knife from its holder and wielded it at the Centurions who were trying to push past each other through the narrow door.

Positioning himself in front of the older man, Chat charged at the three leather-clad enemies, holding his staff horizontal to the floor. Hitting two of the men in their midsections, he managed to push them back a couple steps. His main goal at that point was to clear a path for Adrien to get out of the kitchen and escape the apartment. The two Centurions he had attacked with the staff grabbed onto the weapon and with their combined strength lifted the smaller teenager off the ground for a brief moment before he let go. As soon as his feet touched the ground he kneeled low and sprung up at one of the men, using his shoulder as a ram into his stomach. He knocked the wind out of the man and pulled his staff out of his and the other Centurion's grasp.

Chat Noir was moving purely on adrenaline and autopilot, not allowing himself to think. If he did, he would be focusing too much on the tingling pain from the laser blast he had taken between his shoulder blades. He knew he had to get his older self to his bedroom and retrieve his miraculous. Even if Adrien refused to wear it, Chat couldn't allow the Centurions to get their hands on it. The teenage superhero used his newly freed staff to crack the second Centurion on the side of his head. The rather large man fell to the ground like a felled tree, landing on his still gasping partner.

While Chat was dealing with the first two enemies, Adrien dodged around them and thrust his eight inch chef's knife towards the third Centurion that had been standing in the kitchen doorway. It was as if he had just stepped out of one of his many fencing lessons as he naturally fell into a fencing stance. He lunged forward with his makeshift saber, aiming for the man's chest. The man was fast and dodged to the side. Adrien pushed forward, thrusting with the blade once again. This time, the Centurion deflected it with his own short sword. Adrien kept a firm grip on his knife and pressed forward, trying to find an opening. Unfortunately, the most he could do was deflect the Centurion's thrusts and slashes, his weapon was not going to last much longer. Plus, about ten more Cataclysm Centurions were crowding towards him and the teenaged Chat.

The cat-themed superhero had been keeping track of his older self out of the corner of his eye as he dispatched his two opponents. He also noted the growing group of Centurions in the hallway leading to the kitchen and bedrooms. He only had a few more seconds before the enemy overpowered the two of them and they would be at their mercy. Rushing forward with one end of his staff, he used it as a sort of blunt spear and rammed it as hard as he could into the stomach of Adrien's opponent. The man gasped as the breath was driven from his body and he was smashed into the wall.

Chat turned to Adrien and pushed him farther down the hallway, towards the bedrooms. The remaining Centurions were hot on their heels. The teen shoved Adrien into the master bedroom and grabbed ahold of the doorknob.

"Get your miraculous and get out of here. Go back to the apartment. I won't let them catch you, now go!"

The pair heard glass breaking from the living room as more Cataclysm Centurions entered the apartment. Chat Noir slammed the door closed behind him. Adrien tried to open it, but the teenager had jammed it closed.

"Cataclysm!"

Adrien gasped at the shout from the other side of the door. He began hyperventilating as he backed up to the far end of his room from the door. He could hear loud yelling, pounding and screaming from the other side of the door. After a few minutes the noise stopped and the apartment grew quiet, save for some distant groaning. His eyes were drawn to the door knob as someone tried turning it. Whoever it was banged loudly on the door.

"We have your little friend," a deep voice called out in poorly pronounced French. Adrien could barely understand him. "We know you are in there still. Come out."

Adrien gulped, his mouth and throat dry with fear.

No, they can't take me…or my younger me, he thought. But, what can I do but escape?

His mind raced frantically for an escape plan. A sixth sense drew his eyes from the rattling door to the simple rectangle of a jewelry box on his bureau. It called to him with a voice he could not hear, only sense. He had no choice. He had to put the ring back on or he would be captured, who knew how many Centurions were in the hallway, waiting to capture him. A hinge broke free from the door jamb as he lunged for his jewelry box. In his haste he knocked it to the floor, spilling the contents. The hexagonal wood box clattered to the floor. Adrien picked it up and opened it. Snatching the long unused ring from the padded interior he placed it on his finger just as the Centurions broke down his door.

They charged into his room and surrounded him. The twenty-one-year-old didn't see his younger self anywhere among the large group of Centurions that was filing into his room.

"Plagg, claws out!" he shouted, the words burning his mouth like bile.

Suddenly, he was looking down on the bodies of Gorilla and Nathalie, blood pooled around them.

"No, no!" he cried, shaking his head, he had no time for that.

The older Chat Noir twirled his staff around and smacked away two Centurions as they lunged towards him. He realized that there were far too many of them to fight by himself, he knew he had to escape.

"Where is he?" he shouted.

"Not here, taken to the master," one of them growled.

He had no other options. There were far too many to fight on his own and there was no way to get past them to see if they still had the teenager in the apartment. He had to flee. Smashing open a window with his staff, he leapt from the building, out into space. His instincts from his years as Chat Noir returned to him quickly, just as his fencing training had only a few minutes prior. He extended his staff to a building's roof below and pole vaulted forward. From there, he ran from roof top to roof top, continually checking to see if he was being followed. He didn't see anyone, but he had to be sure.

After darting around the city for nearly an hour, including going through a portion of the sewer, he finally set his sights on Marinette's and Alya's apartment.


	8. Rescue

"Hey, can you hear me?"

The fifteen-year-old Marinette turned to her older companions.

"He's waking up."

The girl turned back to the stricken, elderly Nino Lahiffe. The younger Nino, both Tikkis, Wayzz and Alya sprung up from the kitchen table where they had been switching back and forth from studying the Miraculous book to arguing whether or not they should retrieve the teenage Adrien. The adult Marinette was in the kitchen with Trixx, washing the few breakfast dishes they had produced. No one had been particularly hungry. She hurried from the sink and crowded around the old man with her friends as he grunted and opened his eyes.

"Water…"

His younger self helped him sit up as the teenaged Marinette held a glass of water to his lips. He took several mouthfuls before nodding and pushing the glass away and laying back on the couch.

"Thank you."

"Are you hungry, would you like something to eat?" the older Marinette asked, leaning over him.

"No thank you," he shook his head. "There were others here…before?"

Alya and Nino looked to one another before Alya answered.

"Yes, Queen Bee and Peacock were here, along with the Adrien from the past, which you brought here."

"The Adrien from this time showed up about an hour ago," the younger Marinette said. "He refused to stay and help us. We told him everything, except for the part about him being killed. My Adrien went after him when he left."

"Have you…"

Carapace was interrupted by the sound of the roof hatch being violently thrown open and a sleek, black shape dropping to the floor below it.

"Chat, did you…" the younger Marinette started, but stopped and gasped when the black-clad individual stood and turned to face them. "It's you…"

The twenty-one-year-old Chat Noir wasn't surprised by his former friends' astonishment at seeing him dressed as he was and standing in the middle of the two women's living room. He was surprised, however, at the knowing grin on the ancient Carapace's face. The man's grin was quickly wiped off his face as he and the others got a good look at Chat's distraught face.

"What happened?" the teenage Marinette cried. "Where's my Chat Noir?"

"You shouldn't be happy about seeing me dressed as Chat," he gasped, looking directly at the older Carapace. "I had to flee my apartment, using the miraculous powers was the only way."

"Where is he?" Marinette asked again, stepping directly in front of the blonde man.

"The Cataclysm Centurions ambushed us at my apartment," he said, finally regaining his breath. "He had just arrived on my patio. He gave me enough time to escape, but he was captured in the process. I've spent the last hour making sure I wasn't followed here."

"You just let them take him?" the teenager cried, she was starting to feel hysterical, the floor rocked beneath her feet. Her older self helped her to the armchair and put an arm around her shoulders.

Chat's face turned beet red and he clenched his fists.

"There was nothing I could do. The kid locked me in my bedroom and took on the whole group of them in the hallway. There were at least ten of them, probably far more than that though. They broke down the door once they were finished with him. There was nothing I could do but flee. He did what he did so that I could escape. Trying to get to him would have resulted in both of us being captured."

Marinette looked at the floor and clenched her teeth. She knew he was right, but she couldn't help but feel resentment bubbling up in her chest. She wanted to tell him that most likely none of this would have happened if he hadn't walked out on his life as Chat Noir, but she realized that it wouldn't help the situation and he had his reasons for walking away. He had the right to walk away if he wanted to, they all did.

"Please calm down," her older self said, soothingly. "Placing blame won't help. We need to be level headed about this if we want a chance of saving Adrien. I don't know much about time traveling and butterfly effects, but the fact that my time's Adrien is still around is a good sign that your Adrien is still alive."

"Good point," the young Nino agreed. "But, we have no idea where to find him."

"I may have a good idea of where they took him," the old Nino spoke up, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"I'd planned on telling you when I arrived last night, but my weakened state seems to have prevented that," he said. "I wanted to get to the task of destroying the Centurions. Anyway, there are two places they probably would have taken him, according to my research. Either under the Eiffel Tower or under the TVi building."

"Why those two places?" Alya asked.

"Those two places are their bases during this era," old Nino explained. "At least, I think so. They launch their first mind control attack from the Eiffel Tower due to both its height and its cultural status, they really like destroying people's icons."

"What if he's not there?" the teenager asked. "What if they took him out of the city?"

"Well, things will be much more difficult for us and for Adrien," old Nino said in a serious tone. "It's our only option at this point. Now, we need to get Queenie and Peacock here and plan our attack."

"I don't want to be a part of this…I'm not the…" Adrien said, starting towards the door.

The young Nino grabbed his friend by the collar of his Chat Noir costume and slammed him into the nearest wall.

"You are going to stay and fight," Nino growled, glaring into Adrien's eyes. "The world is at stake and you want to run away? I can't begin to imagine what you went through back then! Finding out that your dad is Hawkmoth, killing people, hurting the woman you love, but what is going on now is not about you! It's about the world, about the future! Your younger self sacrificed himself so that you could escape and you want to throw that away. You need to put all your baggage aside for a while and help us!"

Adrien looked at each of the faces of the people who surrounded him. People he spent the best times of his life with. Over the past six years, through the haze of alcohol that had consumed most of that time, he had always dreamed of going back to them. If not as Chat Noir, then just as Adrien. But, the memories of what he had done would spread through his mind like a plague and he would drown those memories with alcohol again. They all had combinations of angry and concerned expressions on their faces, even Nino, who still had him pinned against the wall. He was touched that they still cared about him after everything he had done and all the time that had passed.

 _I know I'm going to regret this,_ he thought. Aloud, he said, "OK, I'll help as best I can. I'll go with you."

Nino let him go and stepped back.

"Good," he said, a serious look on his face. "I'll contact Queen Bee and Peacock. Once they are here, we will formulate a plan."

* * *

Just under an hour later saw two teams of three heading towards their respective assignments. The teenage Marinette had been ordered to stay behind with the elderly Carapace, much her to displeasure. The young Carapace, Queen Bee and Peacock headed to the TVi station, while Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir headed to the Eiffel Tower.

Carapace, Queen Bee and Peacock peered at the TVi building. The trio were crouching on the roof of a building directly across the street from the front of the news and entertainment television station.

"I watched a lot of programming that came from TVi when I was still learning French," Peacock commented quietly. "It was a difficult time for me."

"How old were you when you moved here?" Carapace asked.

"I was ten. Two years before Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up…I really liked the TVi station. I hope it doesn't actually have anything to do with the Centurions."

"It doesn't!" Queen Bee spoke up. "I've been working there for over a year now! Nadia is my boss! She wouldn't be involved either!"

"Calm down, Chloe!" Carapace whispered. "Maybe my future self was wrong. Maybe the staff here don't know about the Centurions. We'll just have to wait and see."

Queen Bee took a deep breath and focused her attention back on the TVi building.

"Everyone ready?" Carapace asked, his companions nodded.

Queen Bee grabbed onto Carapace and flew him over to the roof of the TVi building. Peacock followed her lead, landing gracefully beside her. The young woman opened the roof access door using her trompo stinger and led the two men inside. They spent the next hour going from room to room without being seen. This was a difficult task due to the building being full of reporters, actors, camera operators, writers, administrative assistants and multitude of other personnel that called the large station their workplace, but Queen Bee's intimate knowledge of the building got them through it without incident.

They finally made it to the basement level. Queen Bee had never been to the basement or the sub-basement below it and had informed her companions of this. Once again, she used her trompo stinger to get them through the heavy, steel utility door. The short hallway leading to the stairway and stairwell were only partially lit by sporadic fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. The blonde woman took a deep breath and led her companions silently into the dim depths of the unknown.

* * *

 _I hope he got away…I hope he got away…_

Fifteen-year-old Adrien Agreste kept his thought on repeat in his mind, trying to keep the ache in his too tight, bound hands and his fear out of his mind. His Miraculous had been taken. He had broken out in a cold sweat upon discovering this. They knew who he was under the costume. They had probably destroyed the ring.

He huddled in the corner of a group of wooden boxes he had been tossed in some time earlier, he had no way of knowing how long he had been there. He had been unconscious on the trip from the apartment to his current home. He had studied every inch of the large, warehouse like room that he could see, but it wasn't helpful in telling him where he was. It was a windowless warehouse, lights and fans hung from the heavy metal beams two stories above his head. He could see several rows of boxes and shipping containers, along with a couple armored vehicles in the wide building. He could only see two of the walls of the building. The other two were far out of his sight range. Directly in front of him stood a large male Centurion. He was facing him, a laser pistol in his hands. He wasn't pointing it at Adrien, just in his general direction, but the message was clear. If he tried moving, he was dead.

All around him he could hear the Cataclysm Centurions talking and shouting to one another. It was clear that the group was gearing up for some sort of attack.

"The boss wants the power source generator operational by the end of the week."

"I know, it's all he ever preaches about nowadays."

"We just need to move the last energy cells over to the generator and then we will be good to go!"

"Get the weapons sorted, will you? It was supposed to be down yesterday!"

"I was sent to get that Miraculous holder, remember? I couldn't get the sorting done!"

"Hey what about that? The Miraculous holder was supposed to be in his twenties. I took a peek at him earlier, he's a kid!"

"There were two of them when we went to get the guy."

"There was another of the Miraculous League?"

"No, I mean there were two Chat Noirs."

"That's impossible!"

"That's what I saw!"

"Stop wasting time over there you two! Our leader needs all this equipment transferred to the Eiffel Tower tonight!"

Adrien clenched his jaw.

 _Looks like they are nearly ready to start taking over the world,_ he thought. _I have to get out of here!_

He was looking at the tops of the boxes when someone in front of him snickered. Looking towards the source of the noise, he got a shock. Nadia Chamack stood next to the Centurion who had been guarding him. She had a sneer on her face. She was wearing a figure flattering, emerald green business suit.

"Don't bother trying to escape young man," she said. "There's nowhere for you to go."

"Mrs. Chamack?" the boy gasped.

"I suppose this does come as a shock," she said. "I do like you, or at least I did. There's something strange going on here. You are a child again and my men say there were two of you at your apartment. Care to explain?"

"So you are the leader of the Centurions?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Oh no, not at all. I am one of the top lieutenants though."

"Where is my ring?"

Nadia pulled out a small object from her jacket pocket and held it on her palm. It was the Miraculous of Destruction. Plagg was nowhere to be seen, obviously inactive due to no one wearing the ring.

"It's right here," she said. "I find it fascinating."

"Why don't you put it on?" Adrien asked.

"That would be against my leader's orders."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked. "Why be part of the Centurions?"

Nadia looked at him quizzically.

"Obviously, because of what happened to Manon…I wanted to be part of something bigger. Find a way to escape the pain. Everyone thinks I've come to terms with her death…there's no coming to terms with losing a child."

Adrien frowned. Manon was alive and well in his time. He wondered what happened to her.

"How will hurting others help you escape? You will end up killing the children of other people you realize?"

Nadia clenched her teeth and glared at him.

"I can keep everyone from suffering. Take the pain of hard decisions out of their lives. Our leader will do it for them. They will live blissful lives…"

"That's a load of bullshit!" the boy interrupted. "What happened to Manon?"

"I had to make a decision…I made the wrong one!" Nadia cried, pain flooding her face. "She was diagnosed…it didn't take long for the cancer to take her…a few months. The doctors gave me two treatment options. One that was risky and new, they knew little about long term results, but short term results were positive. And one that was well known, but not always successful. I chose the risky option…I just want to take people's pain away."

Nadia cried silently into one of her sleeves.

"I'm sorry about Manon," he said and he meant it. "But taking over the world is not the right decision. What happened to Manon wasn't your fault, you didn't give her cancer. What happens with the Centurions and the rest of the world will be."

Nadia looked up harshly at the teenager and glared at him.

"You don't know what you're talking about, boy! Now, why are there two of you!"

Before Adrien could say another word, the area around him, Nadia and the guard grew very bright and snapped sharply with electricity.

* * *

Carapace, Queen Bee and Peacock had split up so search the massive basement level of the TVi building. After a few minutes, Queen had spotted the teenage Adrien, handcuffed and cowering in a corner made from large wooden boxes. In front of him, with their backs' to her, were a man in a Centurion outfit and a woman in a green business suit. The man had a rifle pointed at the defenseless teenager. The trio exchanged nods and pulled out their Miraculous weapons.

Queen Bee attacked first, aiming her trompo at a spot between the woman in the green suit and the man with the rifle. Lightning and static electricity filled the air when the point of the top hit the cement floor. The man and the woman jumped to either side, Adrien pressed himself back against the boxes at his back. In the confusion, Carapace sprung forward, landing a powerful blow to the rifleman's chin and tossing him back into the boxes. The turtle-themed hero quickly snatched the laser rifle from the senseless man's hands and crushed the barrel in his fists.

Queen Bee pulled her top back into her hand and kept it ready for another attack. The woman in the green suit had fallen to her hands and knees and appeared to have looked directly at the top as Queen unleashed it, as she was not rising to face the intruders, instead she was rubbing at her tightly closed eyes with the heels of her palms.

Peacock dived past his two companions and scooped up the teenaged Adrien into his arms. It had been agreed that he would transport the boy once he was found and the other two would cover him. AS Adrien was lifted from ground he shouted,

"Nadia has my Miraculous!"

"Nadia?" Queen Bee exclaimed, pulling the woman to face her.

The bee-themed hero gasped as she stared in horror at the middle-aged woman. She shook her head and pulled the woman closer.

"You-you can't be with them!" Queen shrieked, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Come on, Queenie, we gotta go!" Peacock shouted. "Get the ring!"

"It's in her pocket!" Adrien cried.

Queen Bee shook her head slightly and pulled out all of Nadia's pockets, she could hear the fast approach of innumerable Cataclysm Centurions as they surrounded the quartet of heroes. Finally, finding the ring, she shoved it in her costume's only pocket and threw Nadia to the floor in a rage.

"I'll be looking for you later," Queen Bee growled. "Traitor bitch!"

Queen Bee grabbed ahold of Carapace around his chest and followed Peacock's lead high into the rafters, keeping herself and Carapace between Peacock and Adrien and the enemy Centurions as they fired continual laser blasts at them. Carapace used his shield to block the blasts from hitting him and his team mates.

"Get to the exit," Peacock called over the noise of the laser blasts. "I didn't see any additional exits, it'll have to be the one we came in…shit, they got jet packs!"

From the direction of the far end of the basement warehouse came six jet pack clad Centurions. They were less than fifty feet away. They were aiming their high-powered laser rifles at the small group. The two heroes capable of flight put on a burst of speed.

"Peacock, use your Miraculous attack, I will use mine," Queen Bee ordered. "It will give us time to escape. You focus on the ones with the jet packs, I'll take care of the ones on the ground!"

Peacock nodded and pulled out his fan with one hand and readied it for an attack.

"Wind of Change!"

A wall of wind hit the six men with jetpacks and sent them flying to the ground. From the initial wall of wind two tornadoes split off and began creating havoc amongst the Centurions. At the same time as Peacock's attack, Queen Bee pulled out her trompo and tossed it towards a large group of the enemy.

"Lightning Swarm!"

The point of the top hit the ground and began spinning faster and faster, slowly rising into the air as it began to light up and make a sizzling, snapping sound. Powerful lightning bolts shot out from the sides and bottom of the weapon, striking the nearest Centurions, traveling through their bodies and onto those standing next to them and so on, until most of the enemy were caught up in the chain lightning.

By that time, Peacock, Adrien, Queen Bee and Carapace had reached the door they had entered through. Queen Bee turned and retrieved her trompo before following Peacock through the doorway. She glanced briefly at the damage they had inflicted. Those that hadn't been shocked by her were being thrown about by the dwindling tornadoes created by Peacock. There were boxes collapsed and tossed throughout the area the group had attacked. She knew she didn't have much time before her Miraculous powers timed out, so she didn't take much time to look.

She reasoned she'd be back to settle things with Nadia Chamack in the near future.

Peacock and Queen Bee had just enough time to make it back to Marinette's and Alya's apartment and for the teenage Marinette to envelope Adrien in a bear hug before their powers wore off. But, they didn't have time to hide from the eyes of the teenage Adrien or Marinette who both gaped at Queen Bee as her secret identity was revealed to them. They didn't recognize the red-headed Peacock.

"Chloe Bourgeois?" Adrien gasped. "I don't believe it!"

Chloe ignored the teenagers and began pacing the living room angrily.

"That-that-that…BITCH! That traitor!" she screamed, kicking an ottoman over. "I looked up to her! She helped me not be that little bitch girl I used to be!"

The blonde woman collapsed onto the armchair and dissolved into tears. Peacock sat on the armrest and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on?" the elderly Carapace asked, sitting up. Chloe's racket had awoken him.

"Nadia Chamack is a top lieutenant in the Cataclysm Centurions," Adrien said, glumly.

Marinette gasped and stepped back from the boy.

"You're lying!" she exclaimed.

"No, he's telling the truth," Chloe sobbed. "She is-was my idol. I wanted to be her…She helped me actually deal with my anger and hate when everyone else just placated me. It was her and…the incident that turned my life around, allowed me to be Queen Bee…now I find out she is evil!"

"I don't know if she's evil," Adrien said. "But I think she's delusional. She said she turned to the Centurions after Manon died. She said she wanted to take away people's pain."

Chloe just shook her head and seemed to collapse into herself.

"So I was right about the TVi building," Carapace said.

"We didn't get any information from it," Nino said, detransforming. "We just grabbed Adrien and got out of there. We can go back…"

"I overheard them talking," Adrien said. "They were talking about the generator. It was at a different location from what I heard."

"As soon as Pollen and Duuzu are ready to go, we will be joining up with the other three," Chloe said, standing up, her fists were clenched resolutely.

"Three?" Adrien asked. "Who are the three?"

"Rena Rouge, Ladybug and Chat Noir, of course," Marinette said.


	9. Man in a Green Suit

The iconic Eiffel Tower stood serenely in the midmorning sun. The landmark averaged millions of visitors a year, and that day seemed no different than any other. Dozens of tourists were milling around the structure, on the ground below and on the observation decks. Oblivious to the turmoil around them and of the three pairs of eyes watching them from the roof top of a building on the edge of the Champ de Mars.

Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir were crouched on a rooftop, not far from the tower. None of them could see any Centurion activity, but they reasoned that they wouldn't be out in the open. But, they would have a hard time hiding a base in the structure, most of it consisting of crisscrossing iron latticework. All three of them had spent time in each of the rooms contained within the tower at some point in their lives, so they were familiar with what could be found inside.

"It makes no sense in them having a base here," Chat Noir said. "They have nowhere to hide in the tower."

"What about beneath the tower?" Ladybug wondered.

"How would they get underneath it though?" the blonde man asked. "I think that man just sent us on a wild goose chase. I really don't want to be a part of this."

Rena Rouge had already noticed how nervous her former partner was. He had been jittery the entire time they had been studying the tower. Without a word, Marinette grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. She smiled gently at him.

"It's going to be alright," she whispered. "You'll do fine. It'll be just like riding a bike."

Chat nodded and turned back to the Eiffel Tower.

"If there is an underground base, they'd probably have an entrance through one of the buildings at the bottoms of the legs," Chat Noir said, pointing at the bases of the two nearest tower legs.

Ladybug nodded.

"Stands to reason," she said. "If there is an entrance in the tower itself, it will be in one of the bases. Wait, I remember hearing that the northeastern base was closed to the public for a whole month about a year ago…do you think the entrance could be there?"

"It's a place to start," Rena Rouge said, standing. "Let's get going."

* * *

Hoping to not attract attention, Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir walked under the tower and into the gift shop located in the northeastern most leg base as Alya, Marinette and Adrien. Luckily, no one had recognized the famous Adrien. The shop was empty except for the trio and a green-clad employee who was standing at the cash register. He seemed irritated that they were in his shop.

"We are closed," he said. "Please leave."

"I didn't see a sign," Alya said. "Plus, it's the middle of the day, why would you be closed during potentially peak tourist hours?"

The trio stepped up to the counter. As they did so, the clerk's face paled.

"You! Adrien Agreste!"

The clerk pulled out a laser pistol from beneath the counter and pointed it at the three friends.

"The leader ordered your capture or death!"

The trio of heroes made a hasty retreat out of the shop and to the cover of a rooftop nearby. They had agreed to pull back if any evidence of the Centurions were found so that they could change and preserve their secret identities, in Alya's and Marinette's case anyway, they clearly already knew who Adrien was. They changed into their superhero outfits and hurried back to the tower, shouting a warning to the tourists still enjoying the site. They began clearing off as the three of them shouted a warning. Tower security took over leading tourists away from the landmark from the three Miraculous League team members.

Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir burst through the door of the gift shop. Now, it was no longer empty. Now, the room was packed with upwards of fifty Cataclysm Centurions. Rena put her flute to her lips and played a short tune.

"Mirage!"

Clones of all three heroes popped out of thin air all around the trio until there were at least the same number of them as there Centurions. Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir hid amongst their clones quickly. The Centurion forces wasted no time in rushing into the line of fake Ladybugs, Rena Rouges and Chat Noirs. The real heroes attacked the large group from three sides, all the while looking for the secret entrance to the Centurion base. They had kept an eye on the building while they had left to change, they knew that no one had entered or exited it. Rena had moved to the side with a door leading to what she surmised was a supply room. She only had a few minutes before she would detransform. She was planning on using that room as a changing station.

Chat Noir and Ladybug used their staff and yoyo, respectively, along with their numerous doppelgangers, to cause chaos within the fifty or so green-clad enemies. If touched, the illusions would disappear, but they could jump and dodge about, making it hard for the Centurions to land a blow on them with their swords. The laser bolts passed right through them, but they wouldn't disappear. They made it even harder to find the real heroes amongst them, who were employing a hit-and-run method of fighting. They'd emerge quickly from a group of illusions do some damage and then hide and run to one side before striking again. Chat and Ladybug sprung out at their opponents again and again, taking on three or four at a time, using their magical weapons to knock the Centurions' weapons out of their hands and then pummel them into unconsciousness. The noise that was being created was deafening.

The only problem was, that when Rena's Miraculous powers timed out, the illusions would disappear as well.

Chat Noir had just jumped out at a group of four Centurions, hitting one of their rifles out of one of their hands with a crack of his staff, when the illusions suddenly disappeared. Rena Rouge was nowhere to be seen. Chat guessed she had ducked through the door at the back of the store to recharge. He and Ladybug were on their own for the time being. Ladybug had not been in a defensible position when Rena Rouge's illusions had disappeared. She was grabbed by three Centurions and hurled through a window and out of the shop. That left Chat alone with about twenty of the villains. Despite his predicament, the blonde felt some pride at how well he had fought and that they had more than halved their enemy's number.

But, that thought didn't really make him feel any better. As it stood, it was twenty to one and Chat was getting tired. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fight them all on his own. He tightened his grip on his staff.

Well, I'm not going to let what happened with my younger self happen again, he thought. I'm going to stay and fight to the bitter end.

The Centurions were closing in on him and he was preparing to use his Cataclysm attack, when a streak of orange hit on flank of the Centurions forces. Two men fell unconscious to the floor during the orange streak's initial attack. Stopping next to Chat, the streak turned out to be Rena Rouge.

"I found the entrance," she said, breathlessly, smacking aside a Centurion with her flute. "We just need to get rid of these guys. Where's Ladybug?"

"They threw her out the window a couple minutes ago," Chat said, fending off a sword attack. "She hasn't come back in though!"

The pair fought on until there were no Centurions left standing. Chat felt like his arms were going to fall off from the reverberations that travelled down his staff from hitting so many armored people. He followed a slightly limping Rena Rouge out of the shop. Ladybug was lying on a pane of shattered window glass. Luckily, her suit had protected her from being cut, it appeared she had just been knocked out. Chat and Rena carefully lifted her out of the glass and sat her against the wall to the destroyed shop. The movement had roused her from unconsciousness. She grunted and put a hand to the side of her head.

"I'll snap those two's necks if I ever find out who they are," she grumbled. "Glass and concrete are not soft."

"Can you keep going?" Rena asked. "I found their secret entrance."

"I'm fine, help me up."

Once Ladybug was steady on her feet, the trio headed back into the shop and into the supply room. On the back wall of the room was a once concealed door, but it had been left open. Beyond it was a dimly lit staircase leading down into the depths below the Eiffel Tower. Running perpendicular to the ground, thick cables could be seen snaking their way down into the depths and up into the tower structure as far as they could see. The staircase also went up a story were it ended in a door. As a precaution, Chat climbed up to the door and opened it. He discovered that it joined up with an existing emergency staircase.

After briefly discussing their options, they decided to follow the staircase down. They all thought that if they were find a power generator, it would be directly beneath the tower. Alya commented that the tower could possibly be used as an antenna to transmit the mind controlling signals. They descended about three stories worth of stairs before they found a way out of the staircase. Alya opened the door a crack. There was no one in sight on the other side. Leading the way, Ladybug stepped through, Rena Rouge directly behind her. Too late, they heard a click.

With his insanely fast cat-like reflexes, Chat pushed the two women forward as hard as he could. He intended to go forward with them, but found he had used all his built up momentum pushing them. He had no choice but to turn and fling himself back the way they had come. The explosives that had been rigged to the door weren't particularly powerful, likely due to the Centurions not wanting sensitive equipment being damaged, but it was powerful enough to collapse the door and a portion of the hallway beyond it.

The trio coughed and spluttered as they picked themselves up off the floor. Ladybug and Rena were separated from Chat by a thick wall of debris.

"Ladybug, Rena, are you alright?" the two women heard Chat call out from the other side of the debris.

"Yes, we weren't hurt," Rena called back. "Are you OK? Can you get through?"

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up. I couldn't try my Cataclysm attack on this debris, it should break through it."

Ladybug had been looking at the walls around them closely.

"No, don't," she cried. "The blast weakened the walls around us. Cataclysm could cause the entire hallway to cave in."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Chat asked.

Ladybug was about to respond when she and Rena heard the sound of dozens of sets of feet running in their direction. The foot pounds reverberated off the walls around them. Chat Noir heard them too.

"Lady, Rena can you escape?" he asked frantically.

"There are doors along this hallway," Rena called to him. "We'll find a way out. You get back to the surface and get the others here when you can."

"Try destroying the cables in the stairwell while you're at it," Ladybug shouted. "Now, go!"

Chat Noir's mind raced. He didn't want to leave them. He left his teenage self and he was captured. He couldn't let people he knew be captured again, especially not twice in one day. He examined the debris that fallen into the hallway. Alya was right, using his Cataclysm attack was too risky. He turned around and used his claws to slice through the cables. He shredded the cables as he climbed the stairs to the gift shop, rendering them completely useless. As he exited the shop, he had an idea. There had to be more than one entrance to the underground base. One could not get a significant amount of supplies and people through one small entrance.

He ran to the northwestern support to the tower. It housed one of the lifts that took people into the upper floors of the tower. As he ran, he called Nino on his cell phone. The other trio had found his teenage self and were heading his way. Chat informed him of the situation with Ladybug and Rena Rouge. He also told him that he was trying to find another way into the underground base. Carapace assured him that Ladybug and Rena would be able to hold the Centurions off for a time and he, Queen Bee and Peacock would be there in a matter of minutes.

Chat Noir had arrived at the support as he hung up with Nino. He jumped up into the crisscrossing iron of the tower and examined the structure. He spotted what he was looking for, the same cables that had been leading up from the Centurions' base. He figured that they would lead him to another entrance to their base. But, first he slashed the cables to bits. He had been standing on a horizontal bar while he cut up the cables. He jumped down onto the roof of the lift. As soon as his feet hit the metal roof, he was hit with a powerful electric shock. So powerful that it brought him to his hands and knees, and it didn't let up. It kept him in that position for some time.

Through the vibrating pain, he realized that the lift was moving. Lifting him up to the second floor of the tower. The pain briefly subsided as the lift stopped moving, but he was hit with another bolt from whatever type of weapon they were using. Rough hands grabbed ahold of his upper arms and dragged him onto the elevator that brought people to the third floor. He was thrust unceremoniously out of the elevator doors and onto the third floor balcony. A slight breeze had sprung up since he and his companions had arrived at the tower.

As the pain dissipated, Chat Noir stood up and looked around him. The people who had forced him to ride the elevator had disappeared with said elevator. He walked a short distance along the platform, no one was there, or so he thought at first. He turned to head back to the elevator to find a tall, handsome man staring at him, a look of amusement on his face. He had dark brown, almost black hair and lightly tanned flawless skin. On his upper lip was a perfectly groomed mustache. He wore an expensive green suit, Chat recognized the suit coming from a well-known and high-end Italian brand.

The man stepped closer to Chat and smiled benignly. He was relaxed, had his hands in his pants pockets.

"I understand that you are back in action," the man said in heavily accented French. "I apologize, French is not my native language. I'm from Italy, Rome actually."

"I should care why?"

"Just making conversation," the man said. "You and I have a lot in comment after all, Adrien Agreste."

The man smirked as he said Chat's name.

"So, you know who I am. I already knew that you did," Chat said. "You already sent your soldiers to my home to capture me. I assume you are the leader or a high ranking commander at least?"

"I am Lorenzo Russo, I am indeed the leader of the Cataclysm Centurions, as was my father before me, as his father was before him and so on. I can trace my lineage back to the Ancient Romans, more or less. We've always been around, subtly influencing world powers. Destroying Miraculi whenever we can. You and I share a bond really, born into similar families."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"Your father is Hawkmoth, he chased the Miraculouses and absolute power. My father did the same, and now so do I. You have the same heritage that I do. You could join me. I won't kill you, like I was originally planning, as you will no longer be a threat to me."

"He-heritage!" Chat spluttered with rage. "I have nothing from my father! That man is evil! I would never join you! I'd rather die!"

Chat Noir sprung forward at Leader Russo, brandishing his claws. Russo pulled out a sword from the back of his belt and used it to fend off the hero's attack. Locking the blade with Chat's sharp claws, he pushed back against the hero sharply, causing Chat to stop his forward movement. The blonde, full of rage still, stepped back from the Centurion leader and readied himself for another attack.

"Cataclysm!" he shouted and sprung forward at his foe.

His empowered claws sliced through the sword and nearby railing and safety screening. The attack caught Russo slightly by surprise and he had to jump out of the way. The Cataclysm power wore off, but Chat had done what he had intended, to destroy the sword. Now, he hoped, his opponent was weaponless and would be easy to defeat. He reasoned that a man in an expensive Italian suit either wouldn't be willing to damage it or was not a good fighter. He was wrong on both counts. Russo didn't need a weapon to deflect Chat's angry attacks, even when Chat was using his staff. He was wearing wrist guards under his jacket and was able to effectively block swings from the weapon. After a couple minutes of fighting, Chat was on his last paw pad. He had to defeat the man now.

Chat finally found an opening. Bulling forward with his shoulder braced against the staff, he knocked Russo off balance. The man fell back hard against the railing, just to the side of where Chat had inadvertently cut through it. Chat used his staff to pin the man there. Just as eh was reaching up to pull down some of the wire netting to use to secure the man, Chat detransformed, his staff disappeared and he lost his hold on Russo.

Russo jumped at Adrien, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and whirled him around, and before the young man could react, he had been shoved through the severed railing and net and was freefalling from the top of the Eiffel Tower to the pavement below.


End file.
